International:
Bush Condemns Reported Nuke Test
President Bush on Monday condemned North Korea's reported nuclear test as a provocative act and called on the U.N. Security Council to take immediate action.
Bush Condemns Reported Nuke Test
President Bush on Monday condemned North Korea's reported nuclear test as a provocative act and called on the U.N. Security Council to take immediate action.
Bush said the U.S. was working to confirm North Korea's claim. "Nonetheless, such a claim itself constitutes a threat to international peace and security. The United States condemns this provocative act," the president said from the White House. "Once again, North Korea has defied the will of the international community and the international community will respond," he said. Full story here.
Baker Panel Preparing Iraq Alternatives
"Our commission believes that there are alternatives between the stated alternatives, the ones that are out there in the political debate, of stay the course and cut and run," the former secretary of state said.
"Our commission believes that there are alternatives between the stated alternatives, the ones that are out there in the political debate, of stay the course and cut and run," the former secretary of state said.
Partisan critics of Democratic proposals to consider drawing down U.S. troops in Iraq at times call that kind of talk a "cut and run" strategy. Baker did not disclose specific proposals that might be adopted by the commission, which plans to issue its report after the November congressional elections. But his remarks Sunday on the ABC's "This Week" were the latest in which a high-profile Republican has seemed to say it is time for the administration to consider other alternatives in Iraq. Read it for yourself
State of Disaster?
Wearing a helmet and a flak jacket and flanked by machine-gun-toting bodyguards to defend against insurgents, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to Baghdad yesterday, and signs of progress were not much in evidence in the first hours of her visit. Her trip began inauspiciously when the military transport plane that brought her to Baghdad was forced to circle the city for about 40 minutes because of what a State Department spokesman later said was either mortar fire or rockets at the airport. Last night during a meeting with Iraq President Jalal Talabani, the lights went out, forcing Rice to continue the discussion in the dark.
The visit, during which Rice told the Iraqi government they have "really got to move forward," capped off a bad month for the administration. "What the American people see on their television screens is the struggle," Rice said yesterday, adding that the Iraqis are "making progress."
Conservatives are openly questioning the administration's "sugarcoated" version of reality. Senate Armed Services Committee chairman John Warner offered a stark assessment of Iraq after his visit there last week. Warner said the situation is "drifting sideways" and several parts of Iraq have taken "steps backwards." "In two or three months if this thing hasn’t come to fruition and this level of violence is not under control," Warner said, "I think it’s a responsibility of our government to determine: Is there a change of course we should take?" He added, "I wouldn't take off the table any option at this time."
Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) has called for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation. "I am losing faith in how we are fighting this war," Shays said.
The Clinton Legacy: North Korea's Bomb?
North Korea's first detonation of a nuclear weapon may have taken place during the watch of George W. Bush — but it was under the Clinton administration's watch that the communist regime began gathering necessary materials and constructing the bomb.
North Korea's first detonation of a nuclear weapon may have taken place during the watch of George W. Bush — but it was under the Clinton administration's watch that the communist regime began gathering necessary materials and constructing the bomb.
As Western powers race to confirm that North Korea did in fact explode a nuclear device in Gilju, a remote region in the Hamgyong province, some see it as a culmination of weak U.S. action during the 1990s that led to this fateful day. Read the full article here.
National:
RACIAL PROFILE UPROAR
An NYPD Transit captain in Brooklyn ordered his officers to stop all black male teens at a Park Slope subway station in response to robberies there, sources said yesterday.
National:
RACIAL PROFILE UPROAR
An NYPD Transit captain in Brooklyn ordered his officers to stop all black male teens at a Park Slope subway station in response to robberies there, sources said yesterday.
Capt. Michael Vanchieri, head of Transit District 30, first issued the potentially explosive edict at a meeting with his sergeants and lieutenants last week, the sources said. He then allegedly repeated it to officers during Friday's roll call. Click the subject to read the story.
More Signing Statements?
This week, President Bush issued a signing statement, claiming executive authority to disregard a new law establishing " minimum qualifications for future heads of the Federal Emergency Management Agency." The White House sought to divert attention from the signing statement by waiting to release the document on its website until 8 p.m. Wednesday, after most reporters had gone home.
More Signing Statements?
This week, President Bush issued a signing statement, claiming executive authority to disregard a new law establishing " minimum qualifications for future heads of the Federal Emergency Management Agency." The White House sought to divert attention from the signing statement by waiting to release the document on its website until 8 p.m. Wednesday, after most reporters had gone home.
Congress included the law in the appropriations bill "as a response to FEMA's poor handling of Hurricane Katrina" and to shield FEMA from cronyism by requiring the President to select an agency director who has "a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management" and "not less than five years of executive leadership."
In his signing statement, Bush claimed that "under his interpretation of the Constitution, the FEMA provision interfered with his power to make personnel decisions." A 27-page report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said the Bush administration is using these signing statements "as a means to slowly condition Congress into accepting the White House's broad conception of presidential power, which includes a presidential right to ignore laws." The report also indicated that, under most interpretations of the constitution, "the legal assertions in Bush's signing statements are dubious." Since taking office, Bush has issued a record 750 signing statements.
In Other News…
President Bush's approval rating is now 36 percent, down from 38 percent in August, according to a new Time poll.
President Bush's approval rating is now 36 percent, down from 38 percent in August, according to a new Time poll.
Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, again said the Bush administration is suppressing a classified intelligence report on Iraq that paints a "grim" picture of the situation. Harman wrote a letter to CIA Director Michael Hayden requesting the document's release.
From The Right:
Today, we venture into the realm of the one, the only, Robert D. Novak. He has an article today that he calls The Speaker's Survival. He says that the survival of J. Dennis Hastert as speaker of the House of Representatives will produce an uncomfortable scene Thursday at the Chicago Hilton and Towers. President George W. Bush is the principal attraction at a reception to fund congressional candidates in two suburban Chicago districts -- once thought safely Republican but where Democrats now lead. In the wake of the Mark Foley scandal, Hastert's presence at the reception will be an embarrassing distraction. He looks at the dynamics that will play out. Read it here.
From The Left:
This article, All Nine Nuclear Powers Are Violating Non-Proliferation Treaty, By Scott Galindez breaks down the hypocrisy that runs rampant these days. He writes that as North Korea becomes the eighth confirmed nuclear power (Israel is not confirmed but considered the ninth) some of the blame has to go to the original five nuclear powers.
From The Right:
Today, we venture into the realm of the one, the only, Robert D. Novak. He has an article today that he calls The Speaker's Survival. He says that the survival of J. Dennis Hastert as speaker of the House of Representatives will produce an uncomfortable scene Thursday at the Chicago Hilton and Towers. President George W. Bush is the principal attraction at a reception to fund congressional candidates in two suburban Chicago districts -- once thought safely Republican but where Democrats now lead. In the wake of the Mark Foley scandal, Hastert's presence at the reception will be an embarrassing distraction. He looks at the dynamics that will play out. Read it here.
From The Left:
This article, All Nine Nuclear Powers Are Violating Non-Proliferation Treaty, By Scott Galindez breaks down the hypocrisy that runs rampant these days. He writes that as North Korea becomes the eighth confirmed nuclear power (Israel is not confirmed but considered the ninth) some of the blame has to go to the original five nuclear powers.
When the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty went into effect in 1970, the five countries who had nuclear bombs - the US, France, China, Great Britain, and the USSR - agreed to work to reduce and eventually eliminate their nuclear arsenals.
Now, 36 years later, no disarmament talks are taking place between those countries. North Korea has been a "threshold" country since the late 80s. The fall of the Soviet Union eliminated shared security arrangements and prompted North Korea to aggressively pursue a nuclear weapon. Read it here…
Thought To Ponder:
"Only the Iraqi people can resolve this," Colin Powell said at a recent lecture. In Iraq, "
staying the course isn't good enough because a course has to have an end."Thought To Ponder:
"Only the Iraqi people can resolve this," Colin Powell said at a recent lecture. In Iraq, "
(Sources: FOXNews, Center For American Progress, TownHall, Washington Times, Washington Post, LA Times, AP, NY Times, NY Post, NewsMax, Boston Globe, Star Tribune, ABC News, Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, SanFrancisco Chronicle, Time, TruthOut, PoliticalCartoons)
1 comment:
Hello MP2,
Here's some red hot ink for your pen. Now help me vanquish the sword!
This Foley fiasco has given people the chance to change the make-up of this government, which will ultimately lead to the end of the Bush-Cheney reign. It may not be pretty, but it is a gift, nonetheless. Don't waste this advantage. Use it wisely to end the more pressing problems that face us all.
Want to better understand some of the desperation among top Christian politicos? Want to know what else they are pretending not to know about? Follow the links and read about who I am and what I have to say. Notice that my last name is Page? Think this "page" scandal is a mere coincidence? The timing and ramifications are much worse than most realize yet.
If Christian political leaders are going to go around attacking others for not living up to their professed values, it's a damn good idea to be truthful and actually walk the walk. Logs and motes in the eye, camels through the eye of a needle, glass houses, kettles and pots, and what goes around comes around, et al. Karma's a bitch when She finally decides enough is enough! This wouldn't have been so bad on Republicans if they hadn't been such arrogant hypocrites in order to corner the so-called values voters! Now the "Two Candlesticks" and "Two Witnesses" (Truth and Justice) are "breathing fire" and "raining hailstones!"
Christian Political Leadership, Hypocrisy, Duplicity, and Purposeful Evil
The current scandal involving Congressman Foley is merely the latest in an amazingly long list of blatant deception and duplicity by Republicans and the Christian Right in recent years. While bedeviling us all with their holier-than-thou pretenses, they consistently support and/or perform blatant greed and abominable evil. Never forget the extent of their arrogance over the last two decades and especially the last 6 years. It is beyond amazing that Christians continue to blindly support such obviously blatant scoundrels, even as they are repeatedly exposed going against the most basic of human values. The level of hypocrisy and duplicity boggles the mind. There is no longer any doubt, whatsoever, that Christianity is little more than a purposeful deception used by political and religious leaders to dupe, manipulate, and coerce entire populations into giving them wealth and power, which they always use for greed, injustice, and abominable evils.
The actions of Foley and those who covered up for him directly parallel the actions of scores of priests that have raped innocent children, preyed upon others for centuries, and had their actions hidden and abetted by the Vatican. Now, in eerie repetition of Vatican history, we have a power hungry Christian Emperor (GW) working closely with the Vatican and Judeo-Christian aristocrats to lead crusades in the so-called Holy Land. Furthermore, to leave little doubt about the reality of this assessment, the USA, as the new Holy Roman Empire, is about to legalize the torture it has perpetrated in recent years while steadily reversing many of the democratic and civil freedoms that people gained when the Vatican and royalty lost control of their European empire at the turn of the nineteenth century. Now we see them following the same old path of evil as they strive to cement the status of the USA as the latest proxy Vatican empire. Make no mistake about it, the new dark ages are looming on the horizon unless we do something proactive to prevent it.
Remember that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it!
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Here is Wisdom !!
Peace...
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