US rules out Indian force in Iraq

The United States says it no longer expected India to contribute troops to the international force in Iraq.

The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, told the American television channel CNN the Indian Government had indicated that it would not be in a position to provide troops.

The Indian Foreign Minister, Yashwant Sinha, said India would decide on a possible troop deployment if the United Nations passed a new resolution on Iraq.

Mr Sinha said the decision would be taken in the context of India's own national security concerns.

World’s Largest Democracy Hypocrisy.
Outrage over India Yahoo ban

Thousands of internet users in India have flooded a government website calling for a ban to be lifted on a Yahoo discussion group.

The ban has resulted in the blocking of all discussion groups hosted by the internet giant in India, inconveniencing internet users across the country.

The Indian Government ordered the move because of fears the discussion group, the Kynhun forum, had links with banned separatists.

Guns Don't Kill People
4-year old boys do.

Wakeup Call!
Someone wake this Idiot up.

The Amazing Cost of Re-construction.
In GOP, Concern Over Iraq Price Tag (Trust me. Everyone is concerned.)
Here are a few numbers...

• $54 million for a computer study for the Iraqi postal service. Yup! That's a huge step towards re-construction and fighting terror.
• $100 million to build seven planned communities with a total of 3,258 houses, plus roads, an elementary school, two high schools, a clinic, a place of worship and a market for each.
• $10 million to finance 100 prison-building experts for six months, at $100,000 an expert.
• 40 garbage trucks at $50,000 each. Dude! Why are these garbage trucks so expensive.
• $900 million to import petroleum products such as kerosene and diesel to a country with the world's second-largest oil reserves.
• $20 million for a four-week business course, at $10,000 per student. Does this course come with a happy ending. At 10 grand a piece it better.
• $400 million to build two 4,000-bed prisons at $50,000 a bed. Imported concrete will be used to make this prison. Apparently, local cement isn't good enough to hold prisoners in.

And let us remember this $20.3 billion is not a loan.

UPDATE:
Here is my conspiracy theory on the 20.3 billion, heck for that matter the entire 87 billion that will be spent.
Most of companies (Halliburton, Kellog-etc-etc) that are providing services to the army and are rebuilding Iraq are American. Part of the tiny growth in the economy in the US was attributed (by some people I read, not me) to military spending. So here we are in Iraq spending money on American companies, buying imported (American) concrete to build prisons, $50,000 garbage (I’m guessing American) trucks each, $10,000 per student ($20 million total) on business course (again guessing American) and god knows what else. This is like the British and French in imperial times. Using their colonies as markets for expensive products. Difference being they are using American tax dollars.
So may be my conspiracy theory doesn’t add up after all. Duh!

Can Weblogs Chase Bush Out of Britain?

Chase him out of Britain? I say lets chase him out of the White House. Bare your bum/arse/hiney/butt at Bush.

(thanks to Beatniksalad)

To Everyone out there: Don't Call Me Unless I Ask You To.
Call List Is Again Blocked In Court

A federal judge in Denver ruled late yesterday that the government's effort to curb unsolicited telemarketing calls was unconstitutional, another blow to plans to implement a national do-not-call list next week.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Edward W. Nottingham was announced just minutes after Congress, in a rare display of speed and bipartisanship, voted to overturn an earlier federal judge's decision to nullify the list on different legal grounds.
[....]
But Nottingham, ruling in favor of telemarketers who had challenged the registry, said it was unconstitutional on freedom-of-speech grounds because it would have allowed telemarketers for charitable organizations to continue to call numbers on the list even though commercial firms would be barred from doing so.

this actually makes sense. Why exempt charitable organizations from this do-not-call registry. I don't want anyone calling me, not the telemarketers, not the charitable organizations, not the democrats, not the republicans, no one. Maybe their thinking was too simplistic.

Here is my myopic suggestion. What they should do is have categories of telemarketers like phone companies, charitable associations, political organizations, etc. Each phone number owner should then be able to select whom he wants calls from and what a convenient time would be. Of course this kind of system would cost a lot of $$$$$.

The Right hand doesn't know what the Left had is doing?
Bush, Powell Defend Remark On Iraq's Weapons Capability

President Bush and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell defended yesterday a statement made by Powell early in 2001 that Iraq's Saddam Hussein did not have "any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction."
Bush and Powell were asked about the remark, made on Feb. 24, 2001, after it was discovered on the State Department's Web site. Bush, asked about how Hussein went from that status in February to becoming what he called a "great and gathering danger" a year and a half later, said his perspective was changed by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"Nine-eleven changed my calculation," the president said after a meeting with lawmakers at the White House. "It made it really clear we have to deal with threats before they come on our shore. You know, for a long period of time, we thought oceans could protect us from danger, and we learned a tough lesson on September the 11th."

Powell offered a different explanation yesterday, saying that more information was obtained later. "What I said was, at that time, three weeks into the administration, when I was trying to get sanctions retained -- and we did succeed in getting sanctions retained -- I made that observation," he said. "You'll note that I did not say that he didn't have weapons of mass destruction. . . . He was a threat then. The extent of his holdings were yet to be determined. It was early in the administration and, fact of the matter, it was long before 9/11."

If they want to lie to us they should at least do a good job.

The hunt for weapons of mass destruction yields - nothing

An intensive six-month search of Iraq for weapons of mass destruction has failed to discover a single trace of an illegal arsenal, according to accounts of a report circulating in Washington and London.
The interim report, compiled by the CIA-led Iraq Survey Group (ISG) of 1,400 weapons experts and support staff, will instead focus on Saddam Hussein's capacity and intentions to build banned weapons.

A draft of the report has been sent to the White House, the Pentagon and Downing Street, a US intelligence source said. It has caused such disappointment that there is now a debate over whether it should be released to Congress over the next fortnight, as had been widely expected.

"It will mainly be an accounting of programmes and dual-use technologies," said one US intelligence source. "It demonstrates that the main judgments of the national intelligence estimate (NIE) in October 2002, that Saddam had hundreds of tonnes of chemical and biological agents ready, are false."

A BBC report yesterday said that the survey group, which includes British and Australian investigators, had come across no banned weapons, or delivery systems, or laboratories involved in developing such weapons.

According to the BBC, the report will include computer programmes, files, paperwork and pictures suggesting Saddam's regime was developing a WMD programme.

The Show Recall must Go On...
Court rules that recall can go ahead in October

California's recall vote will go ahead as scheduled on October 7, an 11-judge federal panel ruled Tuesday.

The American Civil Liberties Union had filed suit requesting that the ballot be delayed so that punch-card voting machines could be updated.

The ACLU has the option to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. Any emergency appeal filed with the U.S. Supreme Court would go first to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the justice who has jurisdiction over appeals from the 9th Circuit.

O'Connor could decide to issue a stay to either postpone the election, or allow it to proceed, depending on what the lower court rules or refer the matter to the full Court. Then all nine justices could either respond to the emergency appeal, or decide to do nothing. That would mean the appeals court ruling would stand.

Patriot Act Used In 16-Year-Old Deportation Case

The Bush administration has decided to pursue a 16-year-old effort to deport two Palestinian activists who as students distributed magazines and raised funds for a group the government now considers a terrorist organization, despite several court rulings that the deportations are unconstitutional because the men were not involved in terrorist activity.

Great! Now they want to use new laws to prosecute people for acts they performed in the past (when the acts weren't unlawful).

I'm looking on the Internet, but didn't some court somewhere disallow the retrofitting of some laws in cases involving rape or was it pedophilia?

UPDATE: This is what I found...
Retroactively, Retroactivity

RETROACTIVELY, RETROACTIVITY - Generally refer to laws or court decisions which affect already existing rights, obligations and duties, or attach new conditions in respect to transactions or events already past.

Retroactivity depends on whether the new provision attaches new legal consequences to events completed before its enactment. Landgraf v. USI Film Prods., 114 S. Ct. 1483, 1499 & n.3 (1994). "The conclusion that a particular rule operates `retroactively' comes at the end of a process of judgment concerning the nature and extent of the change in the law and the degree of connection between the operation of the new rule and a relevant past event." Id. at 1499.

Sexual Offender Laws Hit Legal Roadblocks This is the case that I was thinking about...

The publicity surrounding the Ron Leno case has spotlighted some unsettled legal issues surrounding sexual offender laws.

The Supreme Court will soon decide if the sexual-offender law enacted last September can be applied to offenders who committed their crimes before the law was passed.

If so, when a person completes his prison sentence for sexual crimes, the state can seek to classify him as sexually dangerous based on his past record and have him committed indefinitely to the Massachusetts Treatment Center at Bridgewater.

The new law is an attempt to protect the public from the high likelihood of an offender committing future sex crimes, by imposing a form of civil incarceration upon his release from prison. The state would be required to show probable cause before an offender can be committed as a sexually dangerous person.

Supreme Court delays Clinton plans to deport thousands of legal immigrants

The Supreme Court decided Monday to leave unchanged a series of lower court rulings that challenged the legality of 1996 laws used to deport legal immigrants for minor criminal offenses without judicial review. The Clinton administration urged the Supreme Court to overturn the legal protections, arguing that the lower courts' rulings had "led to significant delays in the removal of such aliens" despite "Congress' clear intent that removal of criminal aliens be expedited."

More Good News from the Middle-East
Saudis consider nuclear bomb

Saudi Arabia, in response to the current upheaval in the Middle East, has embarked on a strategic review that includes acquiring nuclear weapons, the Guardian has learned.
This new threat of proliferation in one of the most dangerous regions of the world comes on top of a crisis over Iran's alleged nuclear programme.
A strategy paper being considered at the highest levels in Riyadh sets out three options:

· To acquire a nuclear capability as a deterrent;

· To maintain or enter into an alliance with an existing nuclear power that would offer protection;

· To try to reach a regional agreement on having a nuclear-free Middle East.

Until now, the assumption in Washington was that Saudi Arabia was content to remain under the US nuclear umbrella. But the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the US has steadily worsened since the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington: 15 of the 19 attackers were Saudi.

It is not known whether Saudi Arabia has taken a decision on any of the three options. But the fact that it is prepared to contemplate the nuclear option is a worrying development.

United Nations officials and nuclear arms analysts said the Saudi review reflected profound insecurities generated by the volatility in the Middle East, Riyadh's estrangement with Washington and the weakening of its reliance on the US nuclear umbrella.

This is Big News for 70% of the US population
Bush: No evidence Saddam was involved in 9/11 attacks

President Bush said Wednesday there was no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 -- disputing an idea held by many Americans.

"There's no question that Saddam Hussein had al Qaeda ties," the president said. But he also said, "We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the September 11" attacks.

The Killing Continues on Both Sides...
US troops 'killed in Iraq attack'

At least three American soldiers have been killed in an attack on a convoy in the town of Khaldiyah, west of Baghdad, according to witnesses.
A truck transporting troops was blown up by an explosive device on a road in the town, and soldiers were fired on as they tried to evacuate casualties, Iraqi sources said.

The US military said two soldiers were wounded when their convoy was attacked east of the town of Ramadi, but they have not commented on the reported attack in Khaldiyah.

Pictures from Khaldiyah showed a military vehicle burning fiercely as an American helicopter circled overhead.

Other news sources are reporting about 8 US casualties.

In Falluja, US troops reportedly opened fire as guests at a wedding party shot their guns into the air, killing a 14-year-old boy.

Witnesses said soldiers, believing they were under attack, formed a circle and began shooting.

At least four people were injured, witnesses said.

The reported incident fuelled tensions in the town, where opposition to America's presence in Iraq is strong.

Dalai Lama to speak in Central Park, NYC.
Here's the link for more information.
The last time he spoke was way back in 1999 (I think). I remember it being a particularly hard time for me. Listening to him and then reading his book The Art Of Happiness helped me big time. I will definitely be there and highly recommend that you go listen to him.

Wesley Clark Update:
Count him in.

Who is Next?
Syria might be next on Bush's list.

UPDATE: Speaking of John Bolton.

Walking Around the City on 9/11/03.

Second Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks
It’s hard to image that it’s been two years since that fateful day. How time flies by. But the events of that day, I’m sure you’ll agree, play out in our minds like it was yesterday. That day changed many lives. Most profoundly, the lives of those people who lost loved ones. But it also changed the way the rest of us live. Things will never be the same ever again.

Picture of the Day

Dumb-ass Statement of the Week Award
The dumb-ass statement of the week award goes to Britney Spears for saying.....

Carlson then steered the interview to politics, asking Spears if she'd supported the war in Iraq. Spears answered, "Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that."

No Australia peacekeepers for Iraq

Australia will not send peacekeepers to Iraq even if the U.N. Security Council supports a new multinational force to help U.S. troops there, Prime Minister John Howard has said.

More Pictures of the Most Photographed City in the World.
All these pictures were taken on the evening of September 1st. I had nothing to do and decided to take my new Olympus C-750 out to take a few nighttime pictures of the city. Check em out....

My House, My Rules
UPDATE:This post must be mis-leading. I didn't write them. Credit was given to Therese (scroll down)for sending them to me.

We always hear "the rules" from the female side. Now here are the rules from the male side. These are our rules! Please note... these are all
numbered "1" ON PURPOSE!

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday = sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want... Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days.

1. If you won't dress like the Victoria's Secret girls, don't expect us to act like soap opera guys.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.

1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did not need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine. Really.

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or monster trucks.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round is a shape.

1. Thank you for reading this; Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight, but did you know men really don't mind that, it's like camping.

Pass this to as many men as you can - to give them a laugh.
Pass this to as many women as you can - to give them an education!!

(thanks to Therese W)

Bush Looks to U.N. to Share Burden on Troops in Iraq

President Bush agreed today to begin negotiations in the United Nations Security Council to authorize a multinational force for Iraq but insisted that the troops be placed under American command, according to senior administration officials.

Mr. Bush's decision came in a meeting this afternoon with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. While not unexpected, it was a tacit admission that the current American-dominated force is stretched too thin. It also amounts to one of the most significant changes in strategy since the end of major combat in Iraq.

Time to eat crow or is this just another ploy. With elections coming up the last thing the Bush administration needs is more US soldiers getting killed in Iraq. They will probably try to push through the resolution and share as little decision making as possible with the rest of the Security Council. The Media and the common man in the US don't care if non-US soldiers get killed. Reminds me of Southpark the movie where during the war they use black troops as cannon fodder.