People? Who cares about People, Let's just get Wall Street back Up and Running
W. House Molded EPA's 9/11 Reports

The Environmental Protection Agency's internal watchdog says White House officials pressured the agency to prematurely assure the public that the air was safe to breathe a week after the World Trade Center collapse.

"Competing considerations, such as national security concerns and the desire to reopen Wall Street, also played a role in EPA's air quality statements," the report said.
[...]
The agency's initial statements in the days following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were not supported by proper air quality monitoring data and analysis, EPA's inspector general, Nikki L. Tinsley, says in a 155-page report released late Thursday.

An email sent just one day after the attacks, from then-EPA Deputy Administrator Linda Fisher's chief of staff to senior EPA officials, said "all statements to the media should be cleared" first by the National Security Council, the report says.

Approval from the NSC, which is chaired by President Bush and serves as his main forum for discussing national security and foreign policy matters with his senior aides and Cabinet, was arranged through an official with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the report said.

That council, which coordinates federal environmental efforts, in turn "convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones," the inspector general found.

After having worked in exile at our West Village offices, we returned to work at our downtown offices. I don’t remember the date clearly but it was towards the end of September 2001. Some of us were excited to be back to work, some weren’t. Just being to close to ground zero was spooky they said. But overall, everyone was excited to be back to work. “They won’t stop us” I think we all thought.

The EPA & the government said it was safe to return and the company said that they had cleaned up our offices. We all thought it was be safe to return. And now this report….

For weeks following our return to the Downtown office we could smell stuff. It smelt like burnt rubber mixed in with dust and dirt. Our building is pretty old and the windows aren’t insulated at all. Which explains how the smells got in. Looking back, I wonder how much of the WTC dirt, debris and asbestos got into our office building being that we are on the block right next to the WTC site. I also know for a fact that to clean up our offices they just called in the cleaning crew one night and had them vacuum the whole place. According to some reports that I’ve read, conventional vacuum cleaners are useless when it comes to fine asbestos particles.

So now we know that we were working in a potentially asbestos contaminated environment. And it’s not just the air inside the office buildings that matters. We had to go out every single day for lunch, which meant more exposure to potentially dangerous pollutants. And it’s not just office workers that are concerned. Downtown is home to many families, there are schools here, day care centers, and lets not forget all the people that worked at ground zero, many of whom didn’t have adequate protection.

So what do we have to look forward to? Potentially, all the above mentioned people could develop asbestos related illnesses in the future. More class action lawsuits against the state and federal governments?

Towards the end, the article states how the EPA changed certain sections of the EPA new release.

The Times' account of the report says that the title for the original version of one news release was, "EPA Initiating Emergency Response Activities, Testing Terrorized Sites For Environmental Hazards."

In the final version, the second clause was changed to read, "Reassures Public About Environmental Hazards."

In the same release, a section that said, "Even at low levels, EPA considers asbestos hazardous in this situation" was deleted and replaced with a section that read, in part, "Short-term, low-level exposure of the type that might have been produced by the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings is unlikely to cause significant health effects."

SoBig.F is Alive and Well
Damn it! My mailbox is being inundated with the virus. Someone with my email address has an infected machine.

I'm Back
The website is finally back up and running after being down for I don't know how long. The people who host the website - HostOnce.com - decided to upgrade to Windows 2003 without giving me any warning. Thanks guys!

Old News but Still Funny
NYTimes reported over the weekend on how the FOX injunction, against Al Franken to block the release of his new book, was thrown out.

A federal judge in Manhattan told Fox News yesterday that it had to learn how to take a joke. Then he rejected the network's request for an injunction to block the satirist Al Franken from using the words "fair and balanced" on the cover of his book, "Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right."

Calling the motion "wholly without merit, both factually and legally," the judge, Denny Chin of United States District Court, said that a person would have to be "completely dense" not to realize the cover was a joke, and that trademark protection for the phrase "Fair and Balanced" was unrealistic because the words are so commonly used.

Wants most ridiculous in this whole case was the wording used in the papers filed by FOX.

The Fox court papers had referred to Mr. Franken, a former "Saturday Night Live" writer and performer and an unabashed liberal, as a "parasite" who appeared shrill, unstable and "increasingly unfunny."

All reason, in their mind, why he shouldn’t be allowed to use Fair and Balanced in the title of his book. Idiots!

If anything, the lawsuit only benefited Mr. Franken. His book had been scheduled for release in September, but the publicity caused the publisher to print an extra 50,000 copies, for a total of 435,000, and to roll the book out on Thursday.

Can’t wait to get my copy.

Bombay Blasts Kill at Least 42, Injure 150

Consecutive bombs exploded in a crowded jewelry market and a historical landmark in Bombay on Monday, killing at least 42 people, wounding 150 others and shaking buildings in India's financial capital.

Lets hope things stay calm there. The last thing India needs right now is more Hindu-Muslim riots. And the last thing the world needs right now is nuclear standoff between India and Pakistan.

Protesters Greet Bush in Portland

About 2,000 protesters, some shouting "shame on Bush," met President Bush in the Pacific Northwest on Thursday as he sought to promote his environmental agenda and raise campaign money.

Outside a University of Portland arena where Bush spoke at a $1 million fundraiser for his re-election campaign, about 2,000 demonstrators waved signs that denounced the president's environmental and economic policies and the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Riot police kept the crowds apart from the president and guarded intersections in the residential neighborhood Bush's motorcade passed.

At one neighborhood intersection dozens of protesters greeted the motorcade with their fingers raised in an obscene gesture, and a lawn sign along the way read, "This tree is anti-Bush."

I think that tree pretty much spoke for all trees and tree-huggers like myself.

Bush told his audience of 500 that their financial contributions reflected "the depth of support here in Oregon" and urged backers to energize grass-roots support.

That's right, his support there is 500 deep.

Wartime Action Figures
Check out Mark Fiore's latest animation. Action Pack.

Japan rethinks Iraq deployment

The deployment of Japanese troops to Iraq yesterday appeared likely to be delayed after the defense minister said it would be "difficult" to go ahead this year because of the bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad.

Shigeru Ishiba, the director general of the Defense Agency, said late Wednesday the truck bombing had shown Japan's planned humanitarian mission would carry real dangers.

He said this month's planned reconnaissance mission for the deployment -- the first time since World War II that Japanese troops would arrive in an active war zone -- would probably be delayed.

This while the US tries to persuade countries to commit more troops to Iraq but refuses to share the power and profits.

Draft of Air Rule Is Said to Exempt Many Old Plants

After more than two years of internal deliberation and intense pressure from industry, the Bush administration has settled on a regulation that would allow thousands of older power plants, oil refineries and industrial units to make extensive upgrades without having to install new anti-pollution devices, according to those involved in the deliberations.

The new rule, a draft of which was made available to The New York Times by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, would constitute a sweeping and cost-saving victory for industries, exempting thousands of indus trial plants and refineries from part of the Clean Air Act. The acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency could sign the new rule as soon as next week, administration officials have told utility representatives.

The exemption would let industrial plants continue to emit hundreds of thousands of tons of pollutants into the atmosphere and could save the companies millions, if not billions, of dollars in pollution equipment costs, even if they increase the amounts of pollutants they emit.

Thai Man Dies While Laughing in Sleep

An ice-cream truck driver in Thailand died while laughing in his sleep, a newspaper reported Thursday.

Damnoen Saen-um, 52, laughed for about two minutes on Wednesday and then stopped breathing, The Nation said, quoting officials.

And they tell us that laughing is good for you.

And about time too....
BushRecall.OrgSign the petition.

Israeli Missile Strike Kills Hamas Official

Israel killed a senior Hamas political leader in a missile strike Thursday, two days after a suicide bombing of a bus in which 20 people died, including six children. The Islamic militant group formally abandoned a truce declared eight weeks ago.

Also, Israeli troops raided the West Bank towns of Nablus, Jenin and Tulkarem in search of militants. In the West Bank city Hebron, troops blew up the home of the Jerusalem bus bomber, a routine punishment intended as deterrent.

[...]

Israel has routinely targeted members of Hamas' military wing but rarely gone after the group's political leaders. Abu Shanab, a U.S.-educated professor of engineering, was the third member of Hamas' political wing to be killed in the past two years.

Abu Shanab was widely regarded as a moderate in the group, and served as a liaison with Abbas during the prime minister's efforts to persuade Hamas to halt attacks.

There goes the peace process.

Was that a jab? (via Eschaton - Fair and Balanced)

The powerful truck bomb that ripped through the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing the top U.N. official in Iraq and at least 19 others, was the most brazen act of terrorism in the country since the U.S. invasion in March.

Israel to respond to attack, but will stick to diplomatic process

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz decided Wednesday that Israel will undertake military action in response to Tuesday's suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus, which killed 20 people, if the Palestinian Authority fails to take action against the Hamas organization.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday ordered his security forces to hunt down and arrest militants behind the suicide
bombing, and cut off contact with the Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations, both of which claimed responsibility for the attack.

Sharon spoke Wednesday by phone with U.S. President George W. Bush, telling him that there would not be a continuous response to the attack, but that there could be no moving ahead with the diplomatic process for the time being, despite Israel's desire to do so.

Let me begin with saying that I don't condone violence of any sort. Having said that, it seems like Sharon almost wants these suicide bombings to continue.
The cease-fire was agreed to on June 29. Then in an IDF raid 3 Hamas activists were killed. In response to that the Palestinians killed 2 Israelis in suicide bombings.
On August 14, the IDF forces killed Mohammed Sidr. And the latest suicide bombing was in response to that killing.

Why on earth is the IDF carrying out arrests while the peace process in on going? The PA was engaged in talks with the terrorist organizations (Hamas and Islamic Jihad) and I think it was worth it to wait for the outcome of those talks. No one likes to negotiate with terrorists but I think the PA needed a little more time. The PA cannot forcibly dismantle Hamas or the Islamic Jihad. They don’t have the firepower and don’t want to plunge the Palestinians into a civil war.
Hopefully, the Israelis won’t retaliate to this suicide bombing and the Palestinians will not commit any other acts of terror. There has to be an end to this vicious cycle of violence.

Philippine Mysteries

After a group of mutinous Philippine soldiers made headlines around the world last month by taking over a shopping complex and lacing it with explosives, most American newspapers were content to report that the soldiers were protesting corruption in the government and the military. But an outrageous and troubling allegation -- that the government has deliberately bombed its people to extract more military aid for the war on terror -- has gone largely unexamined in our papers.

15 killed in suicide bombing on bus in downtown Jerusalem

At least 20 people were killed, including a number of children, and dozens were wounded in a suicide bombing Tuesday night on a bus in downtown Jerusalem.

[...]

The military wing of the Islamic Jihad orgazination took responsibility for the attack in a phone call to the Hezbollah-run television station Al-Manar.

The group had previously vowed revenge for the August 14 killing of senior official Mohammed Sidr during his arrest by IDF troops in the West Bank city of Hebron.

This is not the first terror attack on Israeli targets since militant Palestinian groups declared a temporary cease-fire on June 29. On August 12, two Israelis were killed in near-simultaneous suicide attacks, one in the West Bank settlement of Ariel and the other in the town of Rosh Ha'ayin, close to the Green Line.

Hamas said it was behind the Ariel attack, saying it was in response to the deaths of three of its activists during an IDF raid in Nablus. The Fatah-linked Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades took responsibility for the Rosh Ha'ayin attack.

The cycle of violence continues....

Fair And Balanced
The fair and balanced riot continues....Check it out. 337 so far.

Should the President of The United States of America have to be a "natural born Citizen"?

Many news websites/paper are reporting that the republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah has proposed that any immigrant who has been a citizen for 20 years be eligible for the White House. Three House Democrats prefer 35 years, which is also how old someone must be to be president.

Here’s an excerpt of Article II Section 1 of the constitution.

No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States.

I was watching c-span this morning and they opened up this debate to callers. The people who opposed it gave many reasons for their opposition from “it’s in the constitution” to “how can someone not born in America truly love this country”. Reasons given by people who support the amendment mainly centered on the fact that it is a form of discrimination to not allow immigrants to be president.

One of the dictionary meanings of the word discrimination is Treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice: racial discrimination; discrimination against foreigners.

This section in the constitution seems like discrimination again foreigners to me. Why is it that the constitution finds the need to have this requirement for eligibility to the Presidency? Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t there an election process in place that elects the President? Why not just have anyone who is a citizen and active in politics be allowed to run and the people decide if they want a non “natural born citizen” for a president.

The argument that "It's in the constitution, we shouldn't change it" seems a little lame, not only in this case but also in any other situation where a change in the constitution is required. How can a document that was written so long ago foresee all future issues, social and political? Examples- Abolishing of Slavery and Women’s right to vote.

Here’s another good one. “How can someone not born in America truly love this country and its values?” I personally know plenty of people who weren’t born in this country but still love it just as much if not more than people born here. Just ask the thousands of non “natural born Americans” that are currently in the armed forces. I think if a person who is not born in American is allowed to and doesn’t mind taking a bullet for the country then he/she should be eligible to be the President. Lets look at the case where someone wasn’t born in the country but has lived here since a very early age- let’s say two. How would this person be any different if he/she where born in the America?

And most importantly let’s not forget that there is an election process before anyone becomes the President. Other forms of discrimination have been amended in the constitution, why not this one?

Deadly Truck Bomb Rocks U.N. Headquarters in Iraq

A suicide truck bomb ripped through the hotel housing the U.N. headquarters on Tuesday, U.S. officials said. At least 13 people were killed and 40 wounded, including the chief U.N. official in Iraq, who was trapped in the rubble, U.N. officials said.

A U.N. worker in Baghdad, Tharer al-Tikriti, said that he had counted 13 white body bags taken from the collapsed building, where about 300 people worked. A U.N. spokesman in New York said the official count was 14.

The violence in Iraq continues. This after saboteurs hit Iraqi oil and water lines in ambushes.

The Blackout of 2003 (overdue) Report.
It was actually a lot of fun. Well, only if you lived or had a place to crash in Manhattan and weren’t physically debilitated in any way. We were all working, of course, and as you all already know the power went out just after 4:00 pm on Thursday. Initially, we thought it was just something local, a minor power outage. But then people saw smoke coming out of some building a couple of blocks south of us. A few people started freaking out. I mean hyperventilating, mindless babbling, freaking out. Memories of 9/11 came flooding back. It was a little eerie. We all went down to the street and then more memories; everyone on walking north trying to use their cell phones. Very spooky, it felt a like that scary day two years ago. But after that it was all fun.

We found out from some construction workers at ground zero that it was just a huge power outage and wasn’t a terrorist attack of any sort. Or at least the preliminary report said that. Having learnt this, we figure that there was beer in refrigerators everywhere going warm and since we all agreed that this was a great injustice, we headed to the nearest bar. The place was packed with others just like us. This was at Southwest at the World Financial Center. Great place for after work drinks but I don’t know if their food is any good having never eaten there.

Anyway, we got done at around 8:00 and started walking uptown. That is when we realized what a bone headed move it had been to drink for so long. We should have started heading home a long time ago. There we’re any buses running and those that we running a too crowded. We would have to walk home. On our way to the village we walked by the best Indian food place in the city, The Pakistan Tea House. They were just shutting down and giving away free Indian desserts. So we grabbed a whole bunch and kept walking uptown.

It was getting dark now and all along the way we saw bars packed with people. Some had even spilled on to the streets. The cops were busy and everyone was out drinking on the streets. The city was one huge block party. We then got something to eat in the village and were very lucky to be able to get on a bus that dropped us off a few blocks from where I live. And even on the Upper West Side it was the same story. Bars packed with people, everyone drinking out on the streets. I even saw people having a barbeque right on the street. I didn’t want to go home but it had been a long day and we were all very tired and in dire need of a shower.

That was probably the most interesting evening I’ve had in the city for a long time. It was just very different. The way the people in the city handled themselves and made the most of the power failure was amazing. No looting, no rioting, just people have a good ole time. I wish I had my camera with me.

UPDATE: When I got home, one of my neighbors had left candles and matches at everyone's door just in case we weren’t prepared for a blackout. Who say New Yorkers are rude, inconsiderate, etc, etc?

UPDATE: Cell phone service here sucks! Every time there is an emergency, like on Thursday, the cell phone systems get over loaded. Many people buy cell phones to use in case of emergencies but in all such cases, the cell phones have been useless. I have Sprint and sometimes even on Saturday or Friday evening’s calls don’t go through. They have got to upgrade their systems to handle such situations.

U.S. Abandons Idea of Bigger U.N. Role in Iraq Occupation

The Bush administration has abandoned the idea of giving the United Nations more of a role in the occupation of Iraq as sought by France, India and other countries as a condition for their participation in peacekeeping there, administration officials said today.

Instead, the officials said, the United States would widen its effort to enlist other countries to assist the occupation forces in Iraq, which are dominated by the 139,000 United States troops there.

Yet another bone headed move by this administration.

$20,000 bonus to official who agreed on nuke claim (via Antiwar.com)

A former Energy Department intelligence chief who agreed with the White House claim that Iraq had reconstituted its defunct nuclear-arms program was awarded a total of $20,500 in bonuses during the build-up to the war, WorldNetDaily has learned.

Thomas Rider, as acting director of Energy's intelligence office, overruled senior intelligence officers on his staff in voting for the position at a National Foreign Intelligence Board meeting at CIA headquarters last September.

His officers argued at a pre-briefing at Energy headquarters that there was no hard evidence to support the alarming Iraq nuclear charge, and asked to join State Department's dissenting opinion, Energy officials say.

Rider ordered them to "shut up and sit down," according to sources familiar with the meeting.

As a result, State was the intelligence community's lone dissenter in the key National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, something the Bush administration is quick to remind critics of its prewar intelligence. So far no banned weapons have been found in Iraq to confirm its charges.

The secret 90-page report, prepared Oct. 1, was rushed to sway members of Congress ahead of a key vote on granting the White House war-making authority. It also formed the underlying evidence for the White House's decision to go to war.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham gave Rider a $13,000 performance bonus after the NIE report was released and just before the war, department sources say. He had received an additional $7,500 before the report.

"That's a hell of a lot of money for an intelligence director who had no experience or background in intelligence, and who'd only been running the office for nine months," said one source who requested anonymity. "Something's fishy."

Rider declined to talk about the payments.

What's happening in Baghdad? Straight from the horse's mouth.
Salam Pax, the Baghdad Blogger, writes about a few of his experiences in Iraq. Check it out; it’s a pretty good article.

Listen to Bremer talk about improvements in the electrical situation while Basra is rioting. I just didn't believe my eyes when I saw the images from Basra. I am guessing that the reason we didn't have electricity for a whole day in Baghdad is because they wanted to patch things up in Basra. Two days of riots and about eight Iraqis injured. At least the Coalition forces didn't call the rioters "Saddam loyalists", at least there is some acknowledgment that these are people who are upset with the way the occupation forces are mismanaging the country. And it is getting out of hand. Baghdad, Basra, Nasiriyah all going up in one day and Baqubah being added to the list of cities not really under control.

I went to a press conference where our new one-month-president [the coalition provisional authority has a rotating chairman] was telling us about what they were up to. The press guy, at the request of the conference, was telling journalists that the instantaneous translation thingy has two channels; channel one for Arabic, channel two for English. I would like to add another channel: channel three for the truth. It keeps repeating one phrase: "We have no power, we have to get it approved by the Americans, we are puppets and the strings are too tight." I feel sorry for the guys on the council, some of them are actually very good and honest people and they have been put in a very difficult situation.

As usual, getting into these press bashes is an event in itself. You have to be there an hour early, you get searched a thousand times and, of course, as an Iraqi I get treated like shit. I have no idea why the American soldiers at the entrance to the convention centre [where the CPA press operation is] are so offensive towards Iraqis while they can be so nice to anyone with a foreign passport. I have to be the Zen master when the soldier at the gate gets condescending. The reporters of Iraq Today were not allowed to get to the press conference and they went ballistic. "This is my friggin' government, what do you mean I can't get in?" My sentiments exactly. Keep this image in your head: an American officer stopping you, an Iraqi, from attending the press conference your government is holding.

Do You Feel Safer Now?
Egyptian Man Married to American Woman and Father of 3 American Children is Deported as Case is Still Under Appeal.

30 year-old Walid Ghounem has been forced to leave America his home for nine years and his wife Anna, his three children Aly (6), Nadia (3) and Lyla (1). He reported to the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration office in St Louis this morning with only one bag-the last nine years of his life-not allowed to weigh more than 44 pounds. His family was not told what flight he would take and what airport he would be flown out of.

The U.S. government says he submitted phony records eights years ago when he first applied for citizenship. Ghounem says he paid a lawyer $2,000 to do the paperwork and didn't know what he was signing. His most recent crime? Not reporting for an appeal hearing on the 26th of June this year. He got a letter from BCIS three days after that date had passed and it was postmarked the date he was supposed to be in court for his appeal hearing.

Since 9-11, the government has become more aggressive in his case, detaining him twice and ordering him to leave the country. On the 26th of April when he went to register with the BCIS to fulfill his obligation as a citizen of Egypt-one of 26, mostly Muslim countries that have been identified as potential terror threats-and whose citizens have been asked to register and then often deported en-masse in the last six months.

Postwar Iraq likely to cost more than war

The U.S. bill for rebuilding Iraq and maintaining security there is widely expected to exceed the war's price tag, but the Bush administration is offering only hazy details about the multibillion-dollar totals.

Private analysts have estimated that the cost of U.S. military and nation-building operations in Iraq could reach $600 billion.

But the closest the administration has come to estimating America's postwar burden was when Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator of occupied Iraq, said last month that "getting the country up and running again" could cost $100 billion and take three years.

Sierra Club opposes the nomination of Mike Leavitt

The Sierra Club today announced its opposition to the nomination of Governor Mike Leavitt for EPA Administrator because of his anti-environmental record as Governor of Utah.

Governor Mike Leavitt’s environmental track record, which includes working behind closed doors with Interior Secretary Gale Norton to open up Utah’s wildlands to polluting industries, suggests that he will be a good fit for the Bush administration but a disappointing choice for Americans concerned with environmental protection.

As Governor, Mike Leavitt secretly negotiated two controversial deals with the Department of Interior to open up millions of acres of Utah wilderness to roadbuilding and development. As EPA Administrator, Governor Leavitt would not alleviate concerns that the Bush Administration is prone to making shady deals at the expense of a safe and healthy environment.

Governor Leavitt also championed the notorious Legacy Highway, which would have destroyed Utah’s world renowned wetlands and fertile farmlands along the Great Salt Lake. His appointment does not inspire confidence in a Bush Administration that removed federal oversight for 20 percent of America’s waterways.

Lost Boaters Wander JFK Airport Runway

Authorities are investigating the case of three young boaters who wandered onto a runway at Kennedy International Airport after their raft washed ashore near the airport.

The boaters, a 21-year-old man and two 13-year-old boys, were on an inflatable fishing raft, but became lost after a rainstorm Sunday and floated into Jamaica Bay, authorities said.

While Bush spends 1 billion per week in Iraq in the name of homeland security, people are taking walks on our airport runways.

Saddam ordered chemical attack, inspector to claim

The former UN inspector hired by the Bush administration to find evidence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction will claim in a report next month that Iraqi forces were ordered to fire chemical shells at invading coalition troops, according to US reports.
But David Kay, who heads the 1,400-strong Iraq Survey Group, has admitted he has found no trace of the weapons themselves, and cannot explain why they were never used.

One possibility is that the orders were part of an elaborate bluff, in the hope that they would be intercepted by the US and deter an attack.

According to US officials, all the Iraqi scientists now in custody have insisted that Saddam's arsenal of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons was destroyed years before the Iraqi invasion.

The Boston Globe reported that Mr Kay, who was hired by the CIA in June to direct the search, had made the claim in a classified briefing to two Senate committees.

The newspaper quoted officials who had seen a summary of his report as saying that Republican Guard commanders had been ordered to launch chemical-filled shells at troops.

"They have found evidence that an order was given," a senior intelligence official said, adding there was no explanation of why the weapons were not used.

Nagasaki Anniversary

On Aug. 9, 1945 at 11:02AM, the Great Artist, a Boeing B-29 bomber, dropped the atomic bomb named “Fat Man” on Nagasaki.
It is believed that more than 73,000 people died because of the initial blast and the same numbers of people were injured. In the years to come the death toll would rise to 130,000.

U.S. Snipers Kills Two in Takrit, U.S. Soldier Killed in Baghdad

In a new raid U.S. snipers killed at least two men unloading weapons for sale in a market in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. A U.S. soldier died from a gunshot wound in western Baghdad, the military reported Friday, but investigators had not determined whether it was from combat or an accident.

Here the CNN excerpt about the same incident..

U.S. troops shot and killed two Iraqis on Friday who were believed to have been making an illegal weapons deal in a market in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. Lt. Col. Steve Russell of the 4th Infantry Division said his soldiers opened fire on the men because they had illegal weapons and were seen as a potential threat. He said the Iraqis had not fired on the soldiers.

Maybe these guys were just civilians who were trying to earn a few bucks by selling these weapons? Is this what freedom is all about? Sounds like a summary execution to me.

The Road Map to Peace in Trouble... again...
WAPO reports that the 2 Hamas bomb makers were killed by Israeli forces in the Askar refugee camp. An Israeli soldier and a Palestinian protester was also killed in that raid.

Israeli troops battled gunmen from the Islamic militant group Hamas early Friday in a raid that killed one soldier and two suspected bombmakers following a month of relative calm in the region.

The firefight in the Askar refugee camp, where Israeli troops also shot and killed a Palestinian protester outside the suspected bomb lab, came as an Israeli official said the course of a security barrier might be altered to encompass less West Bank land than initially planned.

One has to wonder about the timing of the Israeli raid. Why now after you've just released 335 prisoners. And now, the BBC is reporting that Hamas had vowed to avenge the killing to these two Hamas members.

The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, has called on members to avenge the death of two of its leaders killed in an Israeli army raid.
Two other Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed after Israeli troops surrounded a building in a refugee camp in Nablus, where suspected militants were staying.

Senior Hamas leaders said the group was still committed to its ceasefire, but warned that "violations" would not go unanswered.

The road map might've reached the end of the road.

Gore Speaks at NYU
Gore spoke yesterday at NYU addressing members of MoveOn.Org. I finally got a chance to hear it and it was pretty good speech. Check it out...
Watch it here.
Read the text here.

'Dr Strangeloves' Meet to Plan New Nuclear Era

US government scientists and Pentagon officials will gather today behind tight security at a Nebraska air force base to discuss the development of a modernized arsenal of small, specialized nuclear weapons which critics believe could mark the dawn of a new era in proliferation.

The Pentagon has not released a list of the 150 people at the secret meeting, but according to leaks, they will include scientists and administrators from the three main nuclear weapons laboratories, Los Alamos, Sandia and Livermore, senior officers from the air force and strategic command, weapons contractors and civilian defense officials.

Requests by Congress to send observers were rejected, and an oversight committee which included academic nuclear experts was disbanded only a few weeks earlier.

The purpose of the meeting, at Offutt air force base, only became known after a draft agenda was leaked earlier this year, which included discussions on a new generation of low-yield "mini-nukes", "bunker-buster" bombs for possible use against rogue states or organizations armed with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.

The session will also debate whether development of the weapons will require the White House to end the US moratorium on nuclear testing declared in 1992.

Man Receives Death Sentence for Bali Blasts That Killed 202

An Indonesian motorcycle mechanic was found guilty today of planning the Bali terror attack that killed 202 people last October and was sentenced to death for what a panel of Indonesian judges called a crime against humanity.

The man, known as Amrozi, 41, an accused member of the Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, is the first defendant to be convicted in the Bali case.

Indonesian and American officials have said they believe Jemaah Islamiyah is probably responsible for the terror attack on the J. W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta on Tuesday that killed 16 people and wounded more than 150. There was some speculation among officials that the Marriott blast was timed as a warning to the Indonesian government on the eve of the first verdict in the Bali bombing case.

The verdict read to the court by the chief judge, I Made Karna, described the Bali attack as an "extraordinary crime" and a "crime against humanity."

Immediately after the verdict, Amrozi, who has smiled at many of his court appearances, swiveled in his chair to face the crowded courtroom. He flashed a wide toothy grin and stretched out both arms with a thumbs-up gesture. In brief interviews during the trial that began in mid-May, Amrozi has said he wanted to be a martyr, and he mounted little defense during the trial.

This guys wants to die. He wants to be a martyr. Those 72 virgins must be very tempting. Especially in cases related to these Islamic militants, they shouldn't be executed. Keep them alive. That'll probably be a harsher punishment. Death is only a relief.

Schwarzenegger joins the Recall. Can I say Total Recall?
Schwarzenegger, as most of you already probably know, announced on NBC's "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" that he would be a candidate in California's recall election this fall. He joins an approximate list of 300 other people who hope to replace Gov. Gray Davis.

The not likely to win candidates include...

• Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt. The magazine isn't doing well so this might just be a publicity stunt.
• 26-year-old Georgy Russell, a computer programmer who supports gay marriage and is selling thong underwear emblazoned with her campaign logo.
• An actress-model Angelyne. One of her concerns is the abundance of city roadwork, which she says has damaged her pink Corvette. Yes, she is blond and has huge chest implants.
• Radio talk show host Michael Savage. I have no idea how he expects to win in Cali. One sec! It's probably another publicity stunt. He just got fired from MSNBC.

And the list goes on....

Hey, if Arnold looses, will he say, "I'll be back"?

UPDATE: Gary Coleman has now joined the above list of stellar recall candidates.
Here's a hypothetical interview..
Q) So Mr. Gary Coleman, how do plan to reduce the state's humongous deficit?
GC) Whatchu talkin' 'bout!

Patriot Act Faces New Challenge In Court

A legal advocacy group filed papers yesterday in federal court in Los Angeles challenging the constitutionality of the USA Patriot Act, the broad antiterrorism law that has come under increasing attacks in recent weeks in the courts and Congress.

The Center for Constitutional Rights, based in New York, argues that the Patriot Act infringes on free-speech protections by outlawing "expert advice and assistance" to groups that the United States has labeled terrorist organizations, even if the assistance is humanitarian in nature and has no connection to terrorism.

The filing, part of a long-running dispute between the center and the federal government over the reach of antiterrorism policies, marks the second time in a week that the Patriot Act has been the focus of a legal challenge. The American Civil Liberties Union sued last week over a provision that allows the government to secretly seize business records in terror investigations.

Indian Family In Queens Victim Of Bias Attack

An Indian family suffered minor injuries after a racially charged attack in Queens Sunday.

Lakhvir Singh Gill, 32, told police three white men taunted him and his family with racial slurs Sunday night in Woodside. Gill says one man yelled, "Bin Laden family, go back to your country!"

Gill says the men then attacked his family.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the attack deplorable.

“This is a city that is open to everybody. One of the more disgraceful things is that some people say they thought they were from a different group,” Bloomberg said Tuesday. “Bias attacks are wrong no matter what group – period, end of story. We will not tolerate that kind of behavior. We will do everything we can to catch and prosecute the perpetrators.”

The Gills are Sikhs from India. They have lived in New York for nearly a decade.

Hiroshima Anniversary

On Aug. 6, 1945 at 8:15AM, the Enola Gay, a Boeing B-29 bomber, dropped the atomic bomb named “Little Boy” on Hiroshima. In doing so the US became the first and only country to use a nuclear bomb on a civilian population.
It is believed that more than 140,000 people died by the end of the year. They were citizens including students, soldiers and Koreans who worked in factories within the city. The total number of people who have died due to the bomb is estimated to be 200,000.

Why did the US have to bomb a city? Why not drop the bomb in some forest, show the Japanese the damage and I'm pretty sure they would've surrendered anyway.

Reuters to shift core unit to India

News and financial information provider Reuters is planning to move much of the core of its operation to India in an attempt to save money.
The move, unveiled on 28 July in a simultaneous presentation to 1,100 staff worldwide will see new products being developed at either Hyderabad or Bangalore.

But as made clear in documents seen by BBC News Online and distributed at the worldwide presentation to the content division - the section which generates the financial data Reuters sells to banks and other key customers - the move will almost certainly involve redundancies.

Among staff affected are 350 based in Tiverton in south-west England, another 65 in Edinburgh in Scotland, as well as a further 600 or so in New York and White Plains in the US, Singapore in East Asia, and in several other offices around the world.

Great news for the Indian economy but not so much for the people getting laid off.

Mini-nukes on US agenda

A two-day secret conference to plan the future of the American nuclear arsenal, including the development of so-called mini-nukes, is being held this week at StratCom, the headquarters of US Strategic Command in Nebraska.
The Bush administration appears determined to build a new generation of small nuclear weapons, especially "earth penetrators", designed to attack nuclear, chemical or biological materials buried deep underground.

A new form of warfare is coming. It is the extension into the nuclear field of the highly accurate conventional bombs and missiles already in use.

Some 150 top scientists and senior officials will meet at the Offutt Air Force Base and, according to an agenda leaked earlier this year by an anti-nuclear group, one of their panels will tackle the issue of mini-nukes.

In the jargon preferred by those in this business, they are called "small build" weapons - weapons of about one kiloton, 1,000 tonnes of explosive.

According to the leaked agenda, the "Future Arsenal" panel will examine "requirements for low-yield weapons, EPW's, enhanced radiation weapons, [and] agent defeat weapons."

Decoded, this means nuclear devices with that produce small amounts of radiation, earth-penetrating weapons to attack underground bunkers, larger devices with greater radiation effects and weapons to destroy chemical and biological agents.

On July 31st, the Guardian reported that a US department of energy panel of experts which provided independent oversight of the development of the US nuclear arsenal had been quietly disbanded by the Bush administration.

The Bush administration is hell bent on starting the next arms race. Any nation that has ideological differences with the US will now be rushing to get nukes. One sec, that’s already happening. Examples: Iran, North Korea.

Are mini nukes considered WMDs? That raises another question, is the Daisy cutter a WMD?

Officials Confirm Dropping Firebombs on Iraqi Troops

American jets killed Iraqi troops with firebombs – similar to the controversial napalm used in the Vietnam War – in March and April as Marines battled toward Baghdad.

Marine Corps fighter pilots and commanders who have returned from the war zone have confirmed dropping dozens of incendiary bombs near bridges over the Saddam Canal and the Tigris River. The explosions created massive fireballs.

"We napalmed both those (bridge) approaches," said Col. James Alles in a recent interview. He commanded Marine Air Group 11, based at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, during the war. "Unfortunately, there were people there because you could see them in the (cockpit) video.

"They were Iraqi soldiers there. It's no great way to die," he added. How many Iraqis died, the military couldn't say. No accurate count has been made of Iraqi war casualties.

The bombing campaign helped clear the path for the Marines' race to Baghdad.

During the war, Pentagon spokesmen disputed reports that napalm was being used, saying the Pentagon's stockpile had been destroyed two years ago.

Apparently the spokesmen were drawing a distinction between the terms "firebomb" and "napalm." If reporters had asked about firebombs, officials said yesterday they would have confirmed their use.

What the Marines dropped, the spokesmen said yesterday, were "Mark 77 firebombs." They acknowledged those are incendiary devices with a function "remarkably similar" to napalm weapons.

More deaths and injuries in Iraq
WAPO reports that a US civilian contractor working with the US army has been killed in Iraq. 2 more US soldiers were injured and carried away in an ambulance in an RPG attack in Falluja.

An American civilian contractor working with the U.S. army in Iraq was killed on Tuesday when explosives were detonated under his vehicle near Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit, the military said.

A guerrilla campaign against U.S. forces has killed 53 American soldiers since Washington declared major combat over on May 1, but Tuesday's attack marked the first time a U.S. civilian had been killed in Iraq since Saddam was toppled.

A U.S. army spokesman said the contractor was evacuated to a nearby field hospital but died of his wounds.

The same day, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at a police station in the restive town of Falluja, 32 miles west of Baghdad. Two U.S. soldiers were taken away in an ambulance as a crowd gathered, chanting support for Saddam.

"We sacrifice our blood and our souls for you, Saddam," they shouted. The fugitive dictator has so far evaded capture despite a $25 million price on his head.

Iraqi exiles working in Iraq Quitting
WAPO reports that the director of U.S.-backed Iraqi Television has quit.

The postwar director of U.S.-backed Iraqi Television has quit, saying the United States is losing the propaganda war to countries like Iran and to the fugitive Saddam Hussein.

Three months after being flown to Baghdad on board a U.S. plane to relaunch Iraqi television and radio, former exile Ahmad Rikabi is disillusioned and back in London for the foreseeable future.

"Saddam Hussein is doing better at marketing himself, through Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya Gulf channels," Rikabi said, referring to the audio tapes believed to be from the former Iraqi leader which have been supplied to those stations and broadcast across the region.

He said that as the United States failed to invest in Iraqi stations or to retain local staff, channels such as Iran's Al Alam and Qatar's Al Jazeera were gaining popularity in Iraq.

And earlier in July Isam al-Khafaji, a member of the Iraqi reconstruction council, resigned saying that he didn't want to be a collaborator. Here's excerpt from his comment in the Gaurdian.

On July 9, with deep sorrow, I submitted my resignation as a member of the Iraqi Reconstruction and Development Council to US deputy secretary of defence Paul Wolfowitz.
I did this with great sadness but, in doing so, I was able to leave Iraq with a clear conscience. If I had stayed any longer, I might not have been able to say that. I feared my role with the reconstruction council was sliding from what I had originally envisioned - working with allies in a democratic fashion - to collaborating with occupying forces.

Sounds like the reconstruction is going just as planned.

Powell Calls Resignation Report 'Gossip'

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell dismissed today as "gossip" a report that he and his deputy, Richard L. Armitage, have signaled the White House that they intend to leave their posts even if President Bush wins a second term.

Powell did not specifically address whether he would serve in a second Bush administration. Other administration officials maintained today that Powell and Armitage do not plan to continue serving if Bush is reelected.

"It's nonsense. I don't know what they are talking about," Powell told Radio Sawa, a U.S. government Arabic-language station. "I serve at the pleasure of the president. The president and I have not discussed anything other than my continuing to do my job for him."

Powell's comments came after The Washington Post reported that Armitage recently told national security adviser Condoleezza Rice that the two men would leave office on Jan. 21, 2005. Although Powell aides and other U.S. officials have long understood that Powell intends to leave after four years, Armitage said today that he had told Rice no such thing.

Of course he denied it. If Bush is re-elected and Powell leaves that will be really sad. He is the only moderate (sane person) in a sea of neo-conservatives (lunatics). But then again, it doesn’t seem like he has had too much influence on the current government’s foreign policy.

America silences Niger leaders in Iraq nuclear row (via Roland's Blog)

America has warned the Niger government to keep out of the row over claims that Saddam Hussein sought to buy uranium for his nuclear weapons programme from the impoverished West African state.

Herman Cohen, a former assistant secretary of state for Africa and one of America's most experienced Africa hands, called on Mamadou Tandja, Niger's president, in the capital Niamey last week to relay the message from Washington, according to senior Niger government officials.

One said: "Let's say Mr Cohen put a friendly arm around the president to say sorry about the forged documents, but then squeezed his shoulder hard enough to convey the message, 'Let's hear no more about this affair from your government'. Basically he was telling Niger to shut up."

Another example of the current government's high handedness. I wonder what exactly they want to hide?

Officials deny Powell departure plan

White House and State Department spokesmen on Monday denied a Washington Post report that Secretary of State Colin Powell and his top deputy had given notice that they wouldn’t serve a second term should President Bush win re-election.

"THERE’S NO basis to the story at all," said State Department spokesman Philip Reeker. "There was no such conversation."

At the White House, Michael Anton, a spokesman for the National Security Council, echoed that view, saying, "The conversation didn’t happen."

And a U.S. official close to Powell told NBC that the report was "nonsense."

The Post, citing "sources familiar with the conversation," said Powell deputy Richard Armitage recently told national security adviser Condoleezza Rice that he and Powell will leave on Jan. 21, 2005, the day after the next presidential inauguration.

This after the WAPO reported that Powell and Armitage intended to step down even if Bush was re-elected. So did this conversation really happen? Powell's a team player. He's going to deny the rumor about him stepping down.

Blair and Bush Join Forces to Spin Away Weapons Issue

The British and US governments are drawing up a controversial new strategy to convince the public that Saddam was developing weapons of mass destruction - an admission that they have so far failed to make a convincing case.

The "big impact" plan is designed to overwhelm and silence critics who have sought to put pressure on Tony Blair and George Bush. At the same time both men are working to lower the burden of proof - from finding weapons to finding evidence that there were programs to develop them, even if they lay dormant since the 1980s.

[...]

Officials say that WMD information is being collected and collated to create a "big impact". Both Downing Street and the White House are said to have learnt tough lessons from the experience of February's "dodgy dossier" on Iraq and the false claims about Iraqi efforts to buy uranium from Africa.

"Instead of just putting out pieces of a jigsaw and expecting people to see the picture, they are waiting until they have more pieces," said one official involved in the project. "They want to get it right." The authorities had learnt not to put out piecemeal information without proper verification, he added.

A presentation could be made as soon as September, with the aim of providing a boost to Mr Blair ahead of the Labour Party conference at the end of the month, and to Mr Bush as the presidential campaign gathers steam. Officials speak confidently of the hard evidence they claim has been gathered in Iraq since Saddam was ousted three months ago.

The Bush administration has brought in a former UN weapons inspector, David Kay, as civilian chief of the Iraq Survey Group, the military- intelligence unit that is heading the hunt for WMD. Last week, having given evidence to closed-door sessions of the US Senate's armed services and intelligence committees, Mr Kay outlined the strategy. "We do not intend to expose this evidence until we have full confidence that it is solid proof," he said. "The American people should not be surprised by surprises. We are determined to take this apart and every day we're surprised by new advances that we're making."

[...]

Scott Ritter, the former chief UN weapons inspector and an outspoken critic of the Bush administration's WMD claims, said Mr Kay had nothing of substance to tell the committees. "His job is not to tell the truth - it's to provide political cover for the President. He was brought back from Iraq not because he has anything relevant to say, but because the President needs to buy time. There is nothing of substance in anything he has said."

Taliban Are Killing Clerics Who Dispute Holy War Call

The assassination, witnesses said, was trademark Taliban: two men on a motorbike, the passenger opening fire with a Kalashnikov rifle, the driver making a quick getaway.

But the choice of victim signaled a new turn for the Taliban, the fundamentalist Islamic movement that was ousted from power and has been running a campaign of attacks against foreign and Afghan government troops in southern Afghanistan for months. This time, the assassinated person was Maulavi Abdul Manan, known as Maulavi Jenab, a member of the local district religious council, shot as he left his mosque last week. He was the third senior Muslim cleric killed by Taliban assassins here in the last 40 days.

While the US and world focus their attention at Iraq, the Taliban are regrouping in southern Afghanistan.

Work in Iraq benefits Halliburton

Halliburton, the second biggest oilfield service company in the world, on Thursday said work in Iraq had boosted revenue as it swung from a loss to record second-quarter net income of $26m, or 6 cents a share, compared with the year-earlier period.

The Houston-based company credited the quarter's 11 per cent rise in revenue, to $3.6bn largely to increased activity in its Engineering and Construction Group projects, including government services work in the Middle East.

There was no bidding process for these contracts. The government has used the 2001 Halliburton contract to place the various work orders in Iraq.

Bush to spend most of August at Texas ranch

(Washington-AP) -- Fund-raisers will help will fill President Bush's schedule during his monthlong working vacation at his ranch near Crawford.

Bush in August is mixing public policy events with six fund-raisers in Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington and Minnesota.

The practice allows the administration, in certain cases, to bill taxpayers for half the travel costs of the political activity.

Bush leaves Washington for his Crawford ranch on Saturday.

The president's campaign aides have talked of raising up to $200 million this year in preparation for his 2004 re-election bid.

Isn't that nice.