Top News 11/20/04

iWaq
Civil war possible after Iraq elections: US' top soldier
US army chief General Richard Myers said in an interview that civil war could erupt in Iraq after forthcoming elections

U.S. Fights Baghdad Militants; GI Killed 
Insurgents battled American troops in the streets of Baghdad on Saturday, killing a U.S. soldier in an ambush and gunning down four government employees in signals that the guerrillas remain a potent force despite the fall of their stronghold of Fallujah. Nine Iraqis also died in fighting west of the capital.

Rebels Attack Baghdad Police, Troops

Reuters - Sat Nov 20, 5:19 PM ET

Guerrillas stormed a Baghdad police station and ambushed an American patrol, killing a soldier and wounding nine in daylight attacks in the capital on Saturday, defying efforts to crush a Sunni Muslim revolt

Bodies of 9 Iraqi Soldiers Found in Mosul
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The bodies of nine Iraqi soldiers, all shot execution-style and seven of them decapitated, were discovered in the northern city of Mosul on Saturday, the U.S. military said.

New intelligence suggests that Zarqawi is intent on aligning with Osama bin Laden
WASHINGTON -- In the run-up to last year's invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration frequently cited alleged but largely circumstantial links between Osama bin Laden's terror network and a Jordanian militant living in Iraq as a key justification for war. Now U.S. officials believe bin Laden's group and the terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, have been trying to communicate with each other recently as al-Zarqawi has emerged as a major leader in Iraq's anti-American insurgency. A senior U.S. military commander stressed Friday that he wasn't sure al-Qaida's top leaders and al-Zarqawi had succeeded in contacting each other and that he did not believe bin Laden or other al-Qaida figures were directing the insurgency



Spite X Spy: CIA under fundie siege

Spy Agency Reform Appears Dead

Reuters - 25 minutes ago

A plan to overhaul U.S. spy agencies died on Saturday in the face of opposition from key Republicans just hours after congressional negotiators thought they had clinched a deal backed by the White House on the post-Sept. 11 reforms.

Clarke was telling the truth, Frist was lying
Joe Conason has a piece worth reading...
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/11/19/frist/index.html
It basically outlines how documents released of Richard Clarke's testimony behind closed doors back up what he said in public... and shows that Bill Frist was lying.
Bill Frist and the rest of his brethren are the exact opposite of Clarke.The kind of people who eat up Colin Powell's UN presentation - which was clearly BUNK - and then come out full force against someone who told a story that made sense. Whatever you think of Bill Clinton, it is obvious at this point that he - and Bush 41 and even Reagan - did far more to combat terrorists then the incompetent administration that was elected in 2000 - and now again. (Daily Chewch)

Terrorism
Ultra-Radical Muslims Draw Scrutiny

AP - Sat Nov 20, 3:19 PM ET

An ultra-radical Islamic ideology mixing zealot-like devotion and holy war creed is drawing more scrutiny in anti-terrorist probes from the Middle East to Europe — with increasing indications that its base on the fringes of Islamic extremism could be widening.

Spanish Court Jails 10 al-Qaida Suspects

AP - Sat Nov 20, 1:11 PM ET

Ten suspects charged with membership in an al-Qaida cell that allegedly helped prepare the Sept. 11 attacks have been jailed to prevent them fleeing Spain ahead of their trial, court officials said Saturday

New W order
Top Bush Fundraisers Move On to Inaugural

Los Angeles Times - Sat Nov 20, 7:55 AM ET

L.A. financier Bradford Freeman is among those who will seek the bash's unlimited donations

Bill Gives Lawmakers Access to Tax Returns

AP - 25 minutes ago

Congress passed legislation Saturday giving two committee chairman and their assistants access to income tax returns without regard to privacy protections, but not before red-faced Republicans said it was all a mistake and would be swiftly repealed.

Congress OKs $388 Billion Spending Bill

AP - 16 minutes ago

Republicans whisked a $388 billion spending bill through Congress on Saturday, a mammoth measure that underscores the dominance of deficit politics by curbing dollars for everything from education to environmental cleanups

Salvo for the fate of Women's Rights was launched yesterday
when Congress added a clause into a much-needed spending bill that would permit health car providers from denying services to patients, particularly those who are anti-Choice.

Looming pandemic which could kill 10s of millions causing sleepless nights

Canadian Press - Sat Nov 20, 8:21 AM ET

TORONTO (CP) - The global community of influenza experts is a small circle. These days, it's an exhausted, alarmed one as well

Mercury, used since ancient times, proves a slippery threat in 21st century

Canadian Press - Sat Nov 20,11:49 AM ET

OTTAWA (CP) - The story of mercury in the environment can be read in the chemistry of whales' teeth.

Scientists Warn of Toxins in Fish

AP - Sat Nov 20, 2:27 PM ET

Each day at 4 p.m., the trawlers come back, alive with giant bass, mackerel and squirming eels, at the end of a food chain that links family dinner tables to poisons in the sea. Besides mercury which can damage the brains of fetuses and young children and can affect healthy adults, there are PCBs, dioxins and flame retardants with unknown long-term effects.

Rebellious Republicans Derail 9/11 Reform
AP - 51 minutes ago
In a defeat for President Bush, rebellious House Republicans on Saturday derailed legislation to overhaul the nation's intelligence agencies along lines recommended by the Sept. 11 commission.

House Condemns Criticism of Boy Scouts

AP - Sat Nov 20,11:31 AM ET

The House on Saturday commended the Boy Scouts and condemned legal efforts to limit government ties to the group because of its requirement that members believe in God

He's no good for us here, he has no fingernails left
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon D.  Kromberg "smirked and stated that" about Ahmed Abu Ali, a student from Falls Church, has been held without charge by Saudis since June 2003. Kromberg was an Associate Independent Counsel on the Morgan Guananty Trust fiasco the GOPpies tried against Clinton . So we already know he has a strong stomach; now strong enough to smirk at acts of torture and make jokes about them.

Returning soldiers selling Iraq contraband on e-bay ?
The Army is reportedly investigating allegations that members of a Springfield National Guard unit shipped contraband back to the United States from Iraq and attempted to sell some of the items on eBay, a popular online auction site. Investigators from the Army's Criminal Investigative Command have grilled members of the Illinois National Guard's 233rd Military Police Company, which served in Iraq from April 2003 to April 2004. Among the items allegedly brought back from Baghdad were engine parts from a dragster owned by one of Saddam Hussein's sons, military Taser parts and U.S. military automatic weapons, according to Army and outside sources. The Criminal Investigative Command in Washington and a spokeswoman for the National Guard in Springfield have confirmed the ongoing investigation.

Experts Fear Price Pressures Could Worsen

AP - 2 hours, 53 minutes ago

After years of relative calm on the inflation front, Americans are being battered by $2-a-gallon gasoline, rising food prices and higher medical bills. And there are fears that price pressures could worsen in 2005

Smokey Bear joins the GOP:
Forests are a cash crop for the U.S. Forest Service, which operates under a system of financial rewards that encourages the agency to cut timber and fight fires even if doing so makes no ecological sense. One day two summers ago, Chad Hanson drove through the Sierra backcountry northeast of Chico, navigating the mountain's twisting washboard roads in his green 1990 Toyota 4Runner with the ease of a man who has driven these roads many times before. When he arrived at a place in Lassen National Forest where in 2000 the 56,000-acre Storrie wildfire had burned, he found exactly what he expected to find"

Video Prompts L.A. Airport Police Probe

AP - Sat Nov 20, 5:51 PM ET

City officials are calling for an investigation of Los Angeles International Airport police after hidden cameras captured several officers abandoning their posts and ignoring emergency radio calls

Man spends week on roof of adult bookstore to protest protesters
SALINA, Kan. - Other than a few "older" women who made obscene gestures as they drove by, a week on the roof of an adult bookstore was mostly a positive experience, Ray Morris said Friday as he prepared to come down from his perch the next morning. The 38-year-old consultant for a Salina cosmetic company spent a week of vacation living on top of the north Salina business to protest local efforts to have the town's two adult book stores investigated for obscenity. "I can't stress enough that I am not promoting porn," Morris said. "I'm promoting the idea of choice. Everyone has a right to choose whether they want to enter these stores."

Paddling Against the Current

Los Angeles Times - Sat Nov 20, 7:55 AM ET

Some say spanking is central to child-rearing in the South. But a Memphis high school coach finds that times may be changing.

"The election results reflect the decision of the right wing to cultivate and exploit ignorance in the citizenry"
I suppose the good news is that 55 million Americans have evaded the ignorance-inducing machine. But 58 million have not. (Well, almost 58 million—my relatives are not ignorant, they are just greedy and full of classic Republican feelings of superiority.)Ignorance and bloodlust have a long tradition in the United States, especially in the red states. There used to be a kind of hand-to-hand fight on the frontier called a "knock-down-drag-out," where any kind of gouging, biting, or maiming was considered fair. The ancestors of today's red-state voters used to stand around cheering and betting on these fights. When the forces of red and blue encountered one another head-on for the first time in Kansas Territory in 1856, the red forces from Missouri, who had been coveting Indian land across the Missouri River since 1820, entered Kansas and stole the territorial election. The red news media of the day made a practice of inflammatory lying—declaring that the blue folks had shot and killed red folks whom everyone knew were walking around. The worst civilian massacre in American history took place in Lawrence, Kan., in 1862—Quantrill's raid. The red forces, known then as the slave-power, pulled 265 unarmed men from their beds on a Sunday morning and slaughtered them in front of their wives and children. The error that progressives have consistently committed over the years is to underestimate the vitality of ignorance in America. Listen to what the red state citizens say about themselves, the songs they write, and the sermons they flock to. They know who they are—they are full of original sin and they have a taste for violence. The blue state citizens make the Rousseauvian mistake of thinking humans are essentially good, and so they never realize when they are about to be slugged from behind.

Other News
Bush Seeks Unity on North Korea, Iran

AP - 37 minutes ago

Facing nuclear challenges on two fronts, President Bush warned Saturday that Iran's suspected weapons program is "a very serious matter," and he stood united with leaders of Asia and Russia in demanding North Korea's return to stalled disarmament talks

NASA Launches Black Hole Hunter

AP - Sat Nov 20, 6:27 PM ET

The fastest-swiveling space science observatory ever built rocketed into orbit Saturday to scan the universe for violent celestial explosions that astronomers believe represent the birth screams of black holes

Integration Debate Heats up in Germany
Germans to Muslims: Change or get out!    Leading German politicians have said Muslims will have to integrate themselves better if they wish to remain in the country. This coincides with conservatives’ calls to emphasize patriotism and Christian values. Speaking at his party’s convention in Munich, Bavarian Premier and Christian Social Union (CSU) leader Edmund Stoiber demanded a clear commitment from immigrants to the basic values of German society.  “Yes to openness and tolerance, no to Islamist head scarves,” Stoiber told delegates, who unanimously voted against a Turkish EU membership and for cutting social welfare benefits for foreigners who are unwilling to integrate.

Bush Pulls Top Security Agent From Fracas

AP - 1 hour, 29 minutes ago

President Bush stepped into the middle of a confrontation and pulled his lead Secret Service agent away from Chilean security officials who barred his bodyguards from entering an elegant dinner for 21 world leaders Saturday night

Dolphins Valuable to U.S. in Arabian Gulf

AP - Fri Nov 19, 3:50 PM ET

The dolphins deployed as underwater sentinels to the Arabian Gulf region by the U.S. Navy last year have been valuable in protecting coalition ships and piers against terrorist attacks, a Navy spokesmen said Friday.

Getting the Bible back to its roots ?
A major new English translation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible -- alternately called the Five Books of Moses, the Torah or Pentateuch -- the first in almost 200 years, has some critics manning the barricades while others are applauding his efforts to return the work to its original Hebrew meanings and majestic repetitions. A professor at the University of California at Berkeley, Alter says since he has never found a biblical translation that he liked or could recommend to his comparative literature students, he decided to do his own, starting with the story of Genesis and ending with the death of Moses."


APEC Protesters Arrested in Chile
A Chilean protester wears a mask that reads, 'Bush equals Death' in protest against U.S. President George W. Bush, during a march through downtown Santiago, November 19, 2004. Leaders of the 21 member countries of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathered here for their annual meeting as activists took to the streets to show their opposition

Blasts from the past
Who Lost the WMD?
As the weapons hunt intensifies, so does the finger pointing. A preview of the coming battle
Jul. 7, 2003
Meeting last month at a sweltering U.S. base outside Doha, Qatar, with his top Iraq commanders, President Bush skipped quickly past the niceties and went straight to his chief political obsession: Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Turning to his Baghdad proconsul, Paul Bremer, Bush asked, "Are you in charge of finding WMD?" Bremer said no, he was not. Bush then put the same question to his military commander, General Tommy Franks. But Franks said it wasn't his job either. A little exasperated, Bush asked, So who is in charge of finding WMD? After aides conferred for a moment, someone volunteered the name of Stephen Cambone, a little-known deputy to Donald Rumsfeld, back in Washington. Pause. "Who?" Bush asked. What Was Cheney's Role? Is Powell Trying To Have It Both Ways? Will Tenet Be Left Holding the Bag?

Clinton Rips Starr, Media on Prosecution

AP - Fri Nov 19, 9:05 PM ET

In a prime-time television outburst, Bill Clinton ripped old nemesis Kenneth Starr and what the former president portrayed as a gullible media eager to report every "sleazy thing" leaked from a prosecutor

Tongue twister: Read This sign aloud

Blue Wristbands

Blue Wristbands

FORCE THE SPRING Wristbands

We may have lost the battle, but we haven’t lost the war.

That adage probably takes on new bittersweet meaning in light of this most recent election. The results were like a sock in the stomach. Can you relate at all to that sentiment? You’re in the company of nearly 56 million voters who probably can, plus millions more who didn’t vote. But now is not the time to give up hope for our nation or for ourselves. More than ever, we need to stand up and let our presences be felt and our voices be heard. We need to channel our emotions into something proactive. And we need to do so with pride, strength and dignity.

These wristbands are the beginning of my way of doing just that. Some days reality hits harder. Some days people need an extra push, a tangible reminder to keep going. That is what purpose these wristbands will hopefully serve. The phrase chosen to be on them, FORCE THE SPRING, is from the following:

"Today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal. This ceremony is held
in the depth of winter. But, by the words we speak and the faces we show the
world, we force the spring. A spring reborn in the world's oldest democracy,
that brings forth the vision and courage to reinvent America." – excerpt from former president Bill Clinton’s first inaugural speech

It’s a message of hope, perseverance and inspiration. It’s a message that hopefully many people can draw from and utilize however it best helps them.

I am not doing this for any sort of personal gain. If my efforts do anything to affect someone in a positive way, that is my "personal gain."

Herald.com | 11/19/2004 | Now outspoken, Cronkite rips Bush's record

Herald.com | 11/19/2004 | Now outspoken, Cronkite rips Bush's record: "His retirement has mostly been a quiet one. But during the past year, Cronkite -- who turned 88 earlier this month -- has made some startling departures from his old just-the-facts anchorman's demeanor. He proclaimed that most journalists are liberals and praised them for it, and accused Republican political operative Karl Rove of orchestrating the release of a new Osama bin Laden tape last month to help President Bush win reelection.

On Thursday, he whacked away at the Bush administration even harder, accusing it of destroying the nation's infrastructure and wrecking its education system to the point that American democracy itself is in danger.

''You want to get down to the nub of how this democracy is going to defend itself,'' Cronkite said. ``We've got to have an intelligent electorate and we're not going to have it because our education system is in a shambles right now.''

The most immediate problem, Cronkite warned, is Iraq.

''We have a war that is tearing us apart,'' he said. But, he added, the administration's deficit spending is a close second, creating ``a debt that will have to be paid by our great-grandchildren, and maybe beyond that.

''In the meantime, we do not have the money to do the things that we ought to -- have to -- do here at home,'' Cronkite said."

Yahoo! News - Still Not Enough Nurses to Go Around

Yahoo! News - Still Not Enough Nurses to Go Around

Even though there's a steady increase in the number of new registered nurses in the United States, it's still not enough to prevent a long-term shortage that could cripple the nation's health-care system, says a new study.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center School of Nursing found that more than 200,000 registered nurses (RNs) have entered the work force since 2001, the largest increase since the 1980s.

"While RNs over age 50 have provided much of the expansion of hospital employment since 2001, it is striking that in 2003, employment of younger RNs grew by nearly 90,000, reaching the highest level observed for younger RNs since 1987," study author Peter Buerhaus, a senior associate dean for research at the School of Nursing, said in a prepared statement.

"This entry of younger RNs into the work force is consistent with reports of substantial gains in enrollments at nursing schools since 2001, and may represent the first wave of two-year program graduates," he said.

But even with this large number of new nurses entering the work force, the nursing shortage in this country is far from over, Buerhaus added.

"The work force is projected to peak at a size of 2.3 million in 2012 and shrink to 2.2 million by 2020 -- a modest increase of roughly 60,000 RNs over forecasts without the new data. This total pales in comparison to the Health and Resource Service Administration's latest forecast of 2.8 million full-time RNs that will be needed in 2020. Thus, a very, very large shortage still looms on the horizon, a shortage so large that it could easily cripple the entire health-care system, not just hospitals," Buerhaus said.

Pentagon drops Internet voting plans for military personnel - Computerworld

Common Ground Common Sense
we find that the DoD dropped the internet use of voting by the military because it couldn't guarantee the security of the voting :

''In a Jan. 30 memo to David Chu, the undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz wrote that 'in view of the inability to ensure legitimacy of votes that would be cast in the SERVE Internet voting project, thereby bringing into doubt the integrity of the election, I hereby direct you to take immediate steps to ensure that no voters use the system to register or vote via the Internet.'

The memo was released today by a Defense Department spokesman who was asked about the status of the controversial voting program, which is called SERVE (Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment).

Wolfowitz said in the memo that 'efforts will continue to demonstrate the technical ability to cast ballots over the Internet,' using knowledge and experience gained so far. He wrote that he would reconsider his decision in the future 'if it can be shown that the integrity of the election results can be assured.''

Yet we are told that the civilian voting systems ARE hackable, and demonstrated as such by Black Box Voting ! This was an invitationg to vote fraud and everyone knew it !"

we find that the DoD dropped the internet use of voting by the military because it couldn't guarantee the security of the voting :

""In a Jan. 30 memo to David Chu, the undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz wrote that "in view of the inability to ensure legitimacy of votes that would be cast in the SERVE Internet voting project, thereby bringing into doubt the integrity of the election, I hereby direct you to take immediate steps to ensure that no voters use the system to register or vote via the Internet."

The memo was released today by a Defense Department spokesman who was asked about the status of the controversial voting program, which is called SERVE (Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment).

Wolfowitz said in the memo that "efforts will continue to demonstrate the technical ability to cast ballots over the Internet," using knowledge and experience gained so far. He wrote that he would reconsider his decision in the future "if it can be shown that the integrity of the election results can be assured.""

Yet we are told that the civilian voting systems ARE hackable, and demonstrated as such by Black Box Voting ! This was an invitationg to vote fraud and everyone knew it !

Link

Pentagon drops Internet voting plans for military personnel
It cited security concerns for the move but plans to keep studying the idea



Related to this topic

> Sidebar: Papering Over E-voting Problems
> Hacker breaks into electronic voting firm site
> Criticism of electronic voting machines’ security is mounting
> Oracle moves to quarterly patch release schedule
> Eight best practices for disaster recovery




News Story by Todd R. Weiss

FEBRUARY 05, 2004 (COMPUTERWORLD) - The U.S. Department of Defense has decided, for now at least, to drop its efforts to give overseas U.S. military personnel voting access over the Internet, because of concerns about the security of the system.

In a Jan. 30 memo to David Chu, the undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz wrote that "in view of the inability to ensure legitimacy of votes that would be cast in the SERVE Internet voting project, thereby bringing into doubt the integrity of the election, I hereby direct you to take immediate steps to ensure that no voters use the system to register or vote via the Internet."

The memo was released today by a Defense Department spokesman who was asked about the status of the controversial voting program, which is called SERVE (Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment).

Wolfowitz said in the memo that "efforts will continue to demonstrate the technical ability to cast ballots over the Internet," using knowledge and experience gained so far. He wrote that he would reconsider his decision in the future "if it can be shown that the integrity of the election results can be assured."

"The bottom line is we could have our president selected by [hackers in] Iran."

—Barbara Simons, ACM past president and technology policy expert
The Wolfowitz memo came nine days after a 34-page report, "A Security Analysis of the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment" (download PDF), was sent by a group of technology experts to the Federal Voting Assistance Program, criticizing the idea as it was envisioned (see story).

The group of about a dozen computer experts was asked by the Defense Department to review the idea of Internet voting, which was proposed after the 2000 presidential elections to make it easier for members of the military and other U.S. citizens to cast ballots when they're overseas. The Federal Voting Assistance Program was assembled by the Pentagon to build an Internet voting system.

One of the writers of the report, Barbara Simons, a past president of the Association of Computing Machinery and a technology policy expert, said today that she's pleased with Wolfowitz's decision

leave no vote behind

Daily Kos :: Comments Gossip: Bush Twins denied seats in NY restaurant

Daily Kos :: Comments:

no sex w/ Republicans? Hmmm...

Can we fine tune this tactic a bit?
For example, sex w/ Republicans is OK if

1. evidence of vote fraud is bleated out by the Republican while in throes of passion
2. the Republican is not allowed to climax
3. the Republican is married to another Republican (Julius Caesar was notorious for employing this particular tactic against his political enemies.)
4. A falafel is employed as a sex toy (hummulingus)
5. recordings of #4 are released to the media

faith is no substitute for empirical evidence
by Rudyard

Daily Kos :: The coming economic crisis

The euro hits a new record high (via Atrios)
'There's an overwhelming belief ever since the U.S. elections that the dollar has got quite a way to go down,' said Chris Furness, senior currency strategist for 4Cast research in London.

gold is up
Gold continued its push to higher ground Wednesday, consolidating its position at levels last seen more than 16 years ago. Spot gold was lately bid at $442.50 an ounce, up $2.70. Likewise, gold for December delivery rose $3.30 an ounce to stand at $433.80 in electronic trading

and consumer prices rise
retail consumer prices were up 4.2 percent in the month that saw oil futures reach record levels. Gasoline prices rose 8.6 percent during the month and heating oil was up 8.1 percent.



Diaries :: DC Pol Sci's diary ::

Over the long run, Bush's fiscal policies are bound to drive us into ruin. Let's not forget that the Great Depression came in the middle of 12 years of uninterrupted Republican rule and rape of the economy.

This time around, we have 1) the budget deficit creating a lack of trust in our economy such that even the IMF is worried; 2) oil prices going through the roof as a result of the instability WE have created in the Middle East and the fact that China is buying up every spare drop of oil on the world markets; 3) the fact that the rest of the world hates us is not inspiring much interest in investing in the U.S.

With the dollar in free fall, interest rates on the way up, inflation rising, what's next? Well, I overheard a little tidbit a couple of weeks ago at a meeting here in Washington to the effect that at the rate things are going, nobody will want to buy our bonds until they go into junk status.

Will it take another Great Depression to bring the Roosevelt coalition that Dean talks so much about back into existence? Will the masses in the red states have to be starving before they realize that having a job and food on the table is more important than whether gays can marry?"

Daily Kos :: Gossip: Bush Twins denied seats in NY restaurant

Daily Kos :: Gossip: Bush Twins denied seats in NY restaurant: "Gossip: Bush Twins denied seats in NY restaurant
by true
[Subscribe]

Fri Nov 19th, 2004 at 13:32:55 CDT

Oops! Forgive my gloating, but I thought this was incredibly funny... No Blue State Special for them!! I guess they'll have to go do their power drinking in a 'red' state... heh.

Diaries :: true's diary ::

From gawker.com :

Freemans tuesday night the 16th of nov. the bush twins along with 2 massive secret service men tried to have dinner they were told by the maitre 'd that they were full and would be for the next 4 years upon hearing the entire restaurant cheered and did a round of shots it was amazing!!!

[Ed: We're hearing that this is actually true.]

http://www.gawker.com/news/culture/stalker/gawker-stalker-bungalow-8-nycs-best-crack-den-026053.php

Display: Rate? "

Daily Kos :: Dollar Dump Accelerates

A full page of comment and analysis in the Financial Times this morning on the accelerating flight from the US dollar.

The US currency came under renewed selling pressure the moment it became clear George W. Bush had been re-elected president. In the two and a half weeks since then, the alue of the dollar has fallen 2.5 percent against the euro and 1.9 percent against the yen. The falls represent an acceleration of the dollar's steady decline since 2002. Since the start of that year, the greenback has fallen 32 percent against the euro and 21 percent against the yen. . . .

Darek Halpenny, currency analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, points to a 'very grim' outlook for the dollar in the near term. 'With the foreign exchange market now focused entirely on the problem of the US budget deficit and current account deficits, there is a real risk that dollar selling becomes a crisis of confidence,' he says. . . .

There is a fear in the currency markets that the dollar's decline, which has been gradual and orderly so far, will turn into a rout.


Diaries :: LondonYank's diary ::

In a sidebar story, a money-changer in the black market that operates freely in Beijing is quoted as saying, 'We are getting loads of people now getting out of the US dollar and buying renminbi . . . There is no confidence in the US dollar anymore and people are afraid the renminbi will be revalued. . . .You need to dump the dollar. That is for sure. But have you thought of buying the euro? It is looking pretty strong.'

Strong stuff for the FT. But what can you Kossacks do to help yourselves through the coming bad times? The following are some ideas to consider, although how a dollar crash affects individuals will vary a lot depending on whether they are asset-rich (have investments) or asset-poor (have debts):

- If you have cash and stocks and worry about the impact of falling dollar values, then switch your investments into European stock and currency funds trading in the US. There are quite a few. This way, even if the dollar falls, your asset values remain unaffected - or even appreciate.

- Pay off your credit cards and other debts which are subject to interest rate increases. If you have a variable rate mortgage, consider refinancing to a fixed rate mortgage. Interest rates are going to have to rise to attract the foreign capital needed to cover the current account deficits, so put your finances in order now.

- There will almost certainly be a sharp recession in the next 4 years. If you are planning a big career or house move, think carefully about the implications for you. Will you have to sell your house into a declining and illiquid market? Are you afraid of negative equity (mortgage higher than the sale value)? Will a career change make you more vulnerable to job cuts or a slowing economy?"

top.bush.choice.

Temporary Restraining Orders Against Use of Voting Machines

Where were we, Kerry and the DNC ? Sleeping, it seems

Lynn
InvestigatesLAWSUITS - Lynn filed two federal lawsuits gainst the
use of voting machines and absentee ballots. She's urging the
establishment of remote polling precincts for absentee voters.

http://www.ecotalk.org/Lawsuits.htm
Read the following for the most succinct explanation of Lynn's legal
strategy - Landes submits brief to United States Supreme Court -
Folks: This was a long shot, but I felt I had to do something.
Lynn // Returned for jurisdictional reasons.

NEWS:

* Nov. 6th update - Both federal district courts dismissed the lawsuits.
Lynn will appeal to the Third Circuit.
* Oct 18, 04: Journalist Requests Temporary Restraining Orders Against
Use of Voting Machines & Absentee Ballots - Urges Use Of Remote Polling
Precincts & Provisional Ballots
* July 2, 2004: PHILADELPHIA, Pa., July 2: Lynn Landes files federal
lawsuits against voting machines and absentee voting. The Complaints
were filed at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania against MARGARET TARTAGLIONE, Chair of the City
Commissioners of Philadelphia, PEDRO A. CORTES, Secretary of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and JOHN ASHCROFT, the Attorney General of
the United States.

Journalist Requests Temporary Restraining Orders Against Use of Voting
Machines & Absentee Ballots
Urges Use Of Remote Polling Precincts & Provisional Ballots

http://www.ecotalk.org/LawsuitPressRelease10-18-04.htm

PHILADELPHIA, Pa., Oct. 18 -- Last week, freelance journalist Lynn
Landes filed two Temporary Restraining Orders (TRO) in federal district
court in Philadelphia. Landes is one of the nation's leading journalists
on voting technology and democracy issues. She is attempting to halt the
use of voting machines and absentee ballots in the upcoming presidential
election.

In her lawsuits, Landes says there are two legal standards for any
voting process. These standards are described in the oversight function
of Federal observers under federal statute, Title 42 § 1973f of the
United States Code, (1) "...whether persons who are entitled to vote are
being permitted to vote," and (2) "...whether votes cast by persons
entitled to vote are being properly tabulated." Landes claims that the
use of absentee voting and voting machines fails to meet either
standard. She says that the use of absentee ballots and voting machines
is effectively unobservable and therefore denies meaningful oversight by
election officials, poll watchers, Federal observers, the press, and the
public.

"This nation's voting system is a total sham, “ says Landes. “In the
upcoming election, a couple of corporations (ES&S and Diebold) with
strong ties to the Republican Party will count 80% of the vote in
virtual secrecy. Democratic candidates should be in federal court now
protesting this insanity. It might be too late after the election.”

Landes claims that elections in America are not being properly
administered under the U.S. Constitution or federal law. Direct public
participation and effective oversight is impossible to all intents and
purposes, she says.



“It's like holding a public meeting at City Hall and then shutting out
the public. Vote fraud and system failure can easily occur and remain
completely undetectable. The end result is that we have no legitimate
way to prove who really wins elections in this country. And the very
last thing we should do is to trust the corporate media and their
polling organizations to tell us what's going on," she warns.



Originally, Landes filed two Complaints in U.S. District Court for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania on July 2, 2004. However, since the
presidential election was fast approaching, Landes decided to also file
TROs. The District Court ruled immediately against Landes on the issue
of absentee ballots. On Friday, Oct. 15th, she filed an appeal to that
decision in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. The TRO filed against
the use of voting machines has yet to be scheduled.

In her appeal to the Third Circuit, Landes suggests the establishment of
remote polling precincts for absentee voters. She says that remote
precincts can be set up at municipal buildings and college campuses
across the country, as well as at embassies, consulates, overseas
military bases, and onboard military ships. The use of a universal
ballot for president and vice president would be a practical remedy for
those two races. Landes sees a logistical nightmare if other races were
included, however.

"If there isn't sufficient time for these remedies to be put into place,
the Supreme Court should order a delay of the election for no more than
30 days," says Landes. "This is not a perfect solution, but at least it
would be legal."


See Landes lawsuit filings at:
http://www.ecotalk.org/VotingSecurity.htm

BBC NEWS | Technology | Inuit language finds home on net

BBC NEWS | Technology | Inuit language finds home on net: "nuktitut speakers will soon be able to have their say online as the Canadian aboriginal language goes on the web.

Browser settings on normal computers have not supported the language to date, but attavik.net has changed that.

It provides a content management system that allows native speakers to write, manage documents and offer online payments in the Inuit language.

It could prove a vital tool to keep the language alive in one of the most remote communities on earth"

Addiction to porn destroying lives, Senate told

Addiction to porn destroying lives, Senate told: "Comparing pornography to heroin, researchers on Thursday called on Congress to finance studies on 'porn addiction' and launch a public health campaign about the dangers.

'We're so afraid to talk about sex in our society that we really give carte blanche to the people who are producing this kind of material,' said James B. Weaver, a Virginia Tech professor who studies the impact of pornography.

Internet pornography is corrupting children and hooking adults into an addiction that threatens their jobs and families, a panel of anti-porn advocates told the hearing organized by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., chairman of the Commerce subcommittee on science.

Brownback, a father of five, said when he was a boy, the typical kid's exposure was limited to occasional peeks at dirty magazines illicitly obtained by a buddy.

Now, he said, pornography seems pervasive. Children run across it while researching homework on the Internet. Vulgar ads arrive unexpectedly by e-mail. Some of his middle-age male friends limit their time alone in hotel rooms to avoid the temptation of graphic pay-per-view movies, Brownback said."

Yahoo! News - Exit poll data will be delayed

Yahoo! News - Exit poll data will be delayed
On future election days, news organizations that pay for surveys of voters leaving polling places won't see results until late afternoon or early evening. The goal is to avoid a repeat of what happened this Election Day, when leaked information from exit polls was posted by Internet commentators known as bloggers about 1 p.m. ET. That was just minutes after the data had been given to the five television networks that, along with the Associated Press, formed a consortium to pay for exit polls and count votes during major elections.

Sheldon Gawiser, chairman of the polling consortium's steering committee and NBC's director of elections, said Wednesday that in future elections, no data will be sent to the networks and AP until at least 4 p.m. ET. The "first wave" of data that bloggers posted this year, he said, was just too raw to be valuable to "people who don't know what they're dealing with."

The data were supposed to be kept confidential and only used to help the networks plan their election night broadcasts. The early polls showed Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) leading President Bush (news - web sites) in the race for the White House and in key states such as Florida and Ohio. By shortly after 3 p.m. ET, some television commentators were hinting that Kerry appeared likely to win.

After polls closed across the nation and real votes were counted, it became clear Kerry had lost the race. He got 48% of the vote nationally. Bush got 51%. Gawiser said the consortium is continuing to review how future exit polls can be made more accurate.

The networks had hoped to avoid any controversy involving exit polls. They were still stinging from what happened in 2000. Then, flawed exit polling in Florida contributed to the mistaken "calls" giving that key state to Vice President Gore and then to Bush.

This year, the leaking of the early exit poll data and the subtle use of it to hint at a possible Kerry victory caused the networks and the pollsters they hired to do the work some embarrassment.

The polling firms -Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International - and the networks said critics didn't understand that early day exit polling often produces results much different from final vote tallies. This year, some pollsters theorize, Kerry's supporters may have been more eager to get to their polling places early.

Mark Blumenthal, a pollster who caught attention this year for his Web site, mysterypollster.com, said the delayed release of the exit poll data means "better numbers" that will still be "leaked immediately."

Liberty News -- Cartoon -- A "Moral Values" Voter At War

Daily Kos :: Complete US Exit Poll Data Confirms Net Suspicions

Daily Kos :: Complete US Exit Poll Data Confirms Net Suspicions:


Figure 1: Graph showing the 'red shift' between 2004 US General Election exit polls & the actual 2004 US Election results"

Daily Kos :: Today's Bateman cartoon: Condoleezza Rice

Whack-a-Mole in Iraq

Daily Kos :: There will be a recount of the presidential vote in Ohio!!

Dancing in the streets of Ohio!!!



Daily Kos :: There will be a recount of the presidential vote in Ohio!!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 15, 2004
12:46 PM
CONTACT: Green Party of the United States
Blair Bobier, Media Director, 541-929-5755

Recount in Ohio A Sure Thing; Green Party Campaign Raises $150,000 in 4 Days, Shifts Gears to Phase II

WASHINGTON -- November 15 -- There will be a recount of the presidential vote in Ohio.

On Thursday, David Cobb, the Green Party's 2004 presidential candidate, announced his intention to seek a recount of the vote in Ohio. Since the required fee for a statewide recount is $113,600, the only question was whether that money could be raised in time to meet the filing deadline. That question has been answered.

Diaries :: pf99's diary ::

"Thanks to the thousands of people who have contributed to this effort, we can say with certainty that there will be a recount in Ohio," said Blair Bobier, Media Director for the Cobb-LaMarche campaign.

"The grassroots support for the recount has been astounding. The donations have come in fast and furiously, with the vast majority in the $10-$50 range, allowing us to meet our goal for the first phase of the recount effort in only four days," said Bobier.

Bobier said the campaign is still raising money for the next phase of the recount effort which will be recruiting, training and mobilizing volunteers to monitor the actual recount.

The Ohio presidential election was marred by numerous press and independent reports of mis-marked and discarded ballots, problems with electronic voting machines and the targeted disenfranchisement of African American voters. A number of citizens' groups and voting rights organizations are holding the second of two hearings today in Columbus, Ohio, to take testimony from voters, poll watchers and election experts about problems with the Ohio vote.