I Think He's Confused

Who needs to forgive whom?

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman is willing to forgive but not forget Chris Dodd and others who abandoned him after he lost the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont and became a petitioning candidate.

In an online interview this week with PajamasMedia, conducted by novelist and screenwriter Roger L. Simon, Lieberman was asked about the break with his old allies.

"I'm talking specifically about Chris Dodd, Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, people like that, none of whom are supporting your campaign," Simon asked. "How do you feel about that? And will you be able to forgive them?

"Oh, I'll forgive them. I probably won't forget, to tell you the truth," Lieberman replied. "And, you know, this is politics. And it's been disappointing."

What Does A Ten Year Old Know About "The Flesh?"

This is brainwashing and child abuse.

The children at the Kids on Fire summer camp are intent as they pray over a cardboard cutout of President George Bush. They raise their hands in the air and sway, eyes closed, as they join the chant for "righteous judges". Tears stream down their faces as they are told that they are "phonies" and "hypocrites" and must wash their hands in bottled water to drive out the devil.

The documentary film Jesus Camp follows three children at the Kids on Fire Pentecostal summer camp in the small city of Devil's Lake, North Dakota.

Tory, aged 10, tells the camera why she likes "Christian, heavy metal rock and roll", rather than Britney Spears. "When I dance", she says, as she cavorts around her bedroom, "I have to make sure that that's God. People will notice when I'm just dancing for the flesh."

Filmed over a year by two New York-based documentary makers, the film has caused a furore since it opened in the mid-west two weeks ago, setting evangelical Christians against non-believers, and separating Pentecostal from non-Pentecostal evangelicals

A Disgusting and Repulsive Reality

I don't watch Fox News channel at all anymore - and haven't for over a year. They are just far too slanted and almost every host behaves like a rabid attack dog for Bush. However, every now and then it looks like I may miss a gem or two. Sheppard Smith was great during Katrina when Sean Hannity tried to spin the disaster into something positive while Sheppard was trying to report the exact opposite. Sheppard shouted him down until he shut up. He'd better watch out. He may lose his job over his passionate with Bill Kristol.

Smith: It’s horrifying that you just said we can’t do anything until after the election. We’ve got men and women over there who are dying everyday and you just said that the man that you support (Bush) can’t do anything even though you believe he knows it’s wrong.—What is worse than that Bill Kristol?

Kristol: I think it’s hard to ask Bush to do something in the middle of this election season…

Smith: That’s a disgusting and repulsive reality Bill, you have to admit that.

Click here to watch the video.

Bill, You Old Dog You!

Some things will not change.

Ashton Kutcher, star of MTV’s Punk’d, said Clinton, 61, gave Demi, 43, the eye at a recent bash.

Kutcher, 28, told US chat show host Jay Leno that he felt like the invisible man while the three ate together.

He said: “I met Bill Clinton once but he didn’t really talk — he was hitting on my wife.”

Legless And Sick Of Slogans

Generals retire and they criticize Bush. Soldiers come home and even if they have no legs, they run for office and tell the truth.

An Illinois congressional candidate who lost both her legs during combat in Iraq said Saturday that President Bush has no real strategy for securing the war-ravaged nation, just political talk designed to appeal to voters.

"Instead of a plan or a strategy, we get shallow slogans like 'mission accomplished' and 'stay the course,'" former Army Capt. Tammy Duckworth said in the Democrats' weekly radio address. "Those slogans are calculated to win an election. But they won't help us accomplish our mission in Iraq."

Duckworth's address served as a response to the president's weekly radio talk and gave the Democratic Party a chance to showcase one of its strongest candidates as it seeks to regain control of the House in November's elections.

Duckworth, who copiloted a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed while under a rocket grenade attack almost two years ago, also criticized Bush and others in his administration for accusing anyone who challenges the president's policies of "cutting and running."

"Well, I didn't cut and run, Mr. President. Like so many others, I proudly fought and sacrificed," Duckworth said. "My helicopter was shot down long after you proclaimed 'mission accomplished.'"

You Know It's Coming

For some reason I was just thinking about this the other day and wondered how long it would be before someone infiltrated the green zone and lauched a massive attack. Turns out that I was right. They stopped this one but you know it's coming sooner or later.

The U.S. military said a captured al-Qaida suspect and members of his cell were "in the final stages" of planning an attack on the Green Zone. An unprecedented curfew prompted by the arrest left millions of Baghdadis stranded at home on Saturday without supplies during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

The U.S. military said the suspected al-Qaida in Iraq member was arrested late Friday at the home of senior Sunni Arab political leader Adnan al-Dulaimi, where he was working as a personal bodyguard.

Al-Dulaimi is a member of the Iraqi Accordance Front - the largest Sunni coalition in the 275-member parliament, where it holds 44 seats - and the military was quick to distance the politician from the raid, stressing that he was "not the target."

"This operation in no way implies Dr. al-Dulaimi was associated with any illegal activity," the military said, adding that the suspect was captured in a security trailer at al-Dulaimi's home.

Heads Must Roll

What did they know and when did they know it? It seems like their are pulling a Catholic Church number with the silence/cover up on this. The Democrats want control of Congress probably had no idea that this would be the way it would happen.

The resignation rocked the Capitol, and especially Foley's GOP colleagues, as lawmakers were rushing to adjourn for at least six weeks. House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of inappropriate "contact" between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he then told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Boehner later contacted The Post and said he could not remember whether he talked to Hastert.

It was not immediately clear what actions Hastert took. His spokesman had said earlier that the speaker did not know of the sexually charged online exchanges between Foley and the boy.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) took the House floor last night to demand an investigation into the Foley matter. But Boehner headed her off, calling on the House to refer the matter to the ethics committee, which the House promptly voted unanimously to do.

The news of Foley's resignation overshadowed an afternoon Republican ceremony hailing a military commissions bill, and it gave Democrats sudden hopes of winning the Palm Beach-based 16th District. Many lawmakers think Democrats are on the verge of winning control of the House in November, and an unexpected gain could prove crucial.

At the Capitol Hill signing ceremony for the commissions bill, a GOP campaign priority, reporters asked Hastert only about Foley. "He's done the right thing," Hastert replied. "I've asked John Shimkus [R-Ill.], who is head of the Page Board, to look into this issue regarding Congressman Foley. We want to make sure that all of our pages are safe and our page system is safe. None of us are happy about it."

I don't know how this will turn out but the GOP has presented itself as the party of values. Foley's behavior and the silence in the Congress do not reflect those values.

Rush Limbaugh Remains A Big Fat Idiot

He obviously doesn't watch the program.

On the September 29 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh claimed that "[t]here can only be one reason" the producers of the CBS reality TV program Survivor decided to dissolve the show's competing teams, which had been divided into four "tribes" comprised of African-American, white, Asian-American, and Latino members, into two mixed-race groups after only two episodes -- "the white tribe had to be winning." As Media Matters for America noted, Limbaugh originally asserted that saying "blacks can't swim" "is not a racial or racist comment at all" while "handicap[ping]" the new season of Survivor. He also stated that Hispanics have "probably shown the most survival tactics," that they "have shown a remarkable ability to cross borders," and that they can "do it without water for a long time. They don't get apprehended, and they will do things other people won't do."

From the September 29 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: Well, it didn't take long for this. After only two episodes, producers at CBS -- the TV show Survivor, you know they -- they segregated all those tribes by race and by ethnicity -- but after only two episodes, the segregation has ended. They have merged the black, white, Asian, and Latino tribes into two mixed-race gangs. There can only be one reason for this, ladies and gentlemen -- that is the white tribe had to be winning. Were -- were it not for that, there would be none of this mixed-gang business going on after only two episodes.

Uh ... people ... The show isn't live. It's taped. I don't think they had any intention of keeping the tribes segregated for more than a couple of eliminations. It was just a gimick to get people hooked into the show. Moreover, the white people weren't winning. The Asians won first place in the first two challenges. The white folks were stealing and trying to hook up in the dirt and sand. Now that they've merged, one of the white girls was seriously macking the lone brotha. So Rush, shut up!

Sad Blow For Afghan Women

Women voted in Afghanistan, Bush always brags. But of course he is ignoring the fact that the Taliban is all but in charge again and that women and women's rights are among the first to be targeted.

Amid increasing attacks by Taliban militants, Safia Ama Jan, director of Afghanistan's Ministry of Women's Affairs in Kandahar, was shot and killed this morning. A local Taliban commander claimed responsibility for the murder, according to the Associated Press, and it's thought that Ama Jan was killed in reprisal for her successful attempts at educating women.

Her death rattled an international community hyperaware of the tenuous situation in Afghanistan, and her funeral today drew hundreds of mourners. A spokesperson for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said the organization "is appalled at the senseless murder of a woman who was simply working to ensure that all Afghan women play a full and equal part in the future of Afghanistan."

Still, some remain confident that escalating attacks will fail to thwart Afghanistan's progress. President Hamid Karzai said, "The enemies of Afghanistan must understand that we have millions of people like (Ama Jan) who will continue to serve this great nation." Similarly, Fariba Ahmedi, a member of Parliament, told the AP, "The enemy of Afghanistan killed her, but they should know it will not derail women from the path we are on. We will continue on our way."

Yet Taliban militants seem increasingly intent on derailing strides toward women's empowerment. Attacks on schools have increased recently, presumably in protest of educating girls. Ama Jan was a fearless champion of women's education; her son said she ran an underground school for girls out of her home during the Taliban's oppressive rule. Through her six vocational schools, Ama Jan also managed to teach nearly 1,000 Afghan women how to use computers and bake and sell goods, according to the AP.

Ultimately, she was more concerned with her work than her own safety. Ama Jan's son told the AP that she would say, "It's my country, I won't quit my job. I want to do this work for our women, for our country. I want women to be able to work just like men."

How 'Bout That Freedom?

The right says no one ever reports the good stuff. How can they when things are so bad that the government has to shut the city down with a curfew?

Iraq's government shut down the capital with a one-day curfew on Saturday, ordering all cars and pedestrians off the streets, but giving no reason for the measure.

The curfew would remain in place until 6:00 a.m. (0200) on Sunday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office said in a one- line statement. The U.S. military did not comment.

The announcement came after a week of clashes and bombings heralded the start of the holy month of Ramadan. U.S. commanders say the past week saw a record number of suicide bombings and the last two weeks have seen a surge in violence.

Although no explanation was given for the curfew, residents of the Adamiya neighbourhood in the north of the capital said they heard gunfire and explosions near dusk on Friday.

Queen Latiffah For Excedrin RTH

Yeah, it gets this deep sometimes!

Doesn't He Watch Dateline?

Okay. I realize it has to be an all consuming compulsion or affliction. I just don't get why these people do this kind of stuff!

Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.), who suddenly announced this afternoon he is stepping down from Congress after his sex-laced e-mails to a former male page, who was 16, were published, made headlines in May 2003 when he took the unusual step of calling a news conference to denounce a report in a South Florida alternative paper that he is gay.

Foley declined to answer questions about the subject then, saying his sexual orientation had nothing to do with is duties as a lawmaker. New Times had raised the issue.

But Foley accused Democratic activists of spreading the rumor to derail his Senate campaign. That drew a sharp response from Florida Democratic Party Chairman Scott Maddox, who criticized Foley for responding to one inappropriate accusation with another. Foley later dropped out of the U.S. Senate race.

In the House, Foley was co-chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children Causus.

The House in 2005 passed Foley-sponsored legislation that would subject child sex offenders to stringent monitoring requirements and tough penalties for failing to comply with registration requirements. "We track library books better than we do sexual predators," Foley said.

I turned the channel when they started reading some of this dude's IM chats with some kid. Unbelievable! ICK!

A Liar, A Failure

He knows Bush better than Bush knows himself.

Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri condemned President Bush in a video statement released Friday, calling him a failure and a liar in the war on terror.

"Can't you be honest at least once in your life, and admit that you are a deceitful liar who intentionally deceived your nation when you drove them to war in Iraq," al-Zawahri said in a portion of the video released by the Washington-based SITE Institute.

Al-Zawahri also criticized Bush for continuing to imprison al-Qaida leaders in prisons, including al-Qaida No. 3 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11 mastermind who was captured in Pakistan in March 2003.

"Bush, you deceitful charlatan, 3 1/2 years have passed since your capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, so how have you found us during this time? Losing and surrendering?" he said, according to the SITE Institute.

"What you have perpetrated against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other Muslim captives in your prisons and the prisons of your slaves in Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and elsewhere is not hidden from anyone, and we are a people who do not sleep under oppression and who do not abandon our revenge until our chests have been healed of those who have aggressed against us," the Virginia-based IntelCenter quoted the message as saying. "And we, by the grace of Allah, are seeking to exact revenge on behalf of Islam and Muslims from you and your soldiers and allies."

Wanted: Mad Scientist

I know this is serious but these folks and these clandestine video tapes are starting to make me laugh. Is he for real?

Al-Qaida in Iraq's leader, in a chilling audiotape released Thursday, called for nuclear scientists to join his group's holy war and urged insurgents to kidnap Westerners so they could be traded for a blind Egyptian sheik who is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.

The fugitive terror chief said experts in the fields of "chemistry, physics, electronics, media and all other sciences - especially nuclear scientists and explosives experts" should join his group's jihad, or holy war, against the West.

"We are in dire need of you," said the speaker, who identified himself as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir - also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri. "The field of jihad can satisfy your scientific ambitions, and the large American bases (in Iraq) are good places to test your unconventional weapons, whether biological or dirty, as they call them."

The 20-minute audio was posted to a Web site that frequently airs al-Qaida messages. The voice could not be independently identified, but it was thought to be al-Masri's. He is believed to have succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who died in a U.S. airstrike north of Baghdad in June, as head of the al-Qaida-linked organization.

Will Chavez Get To The Security Council?

I think we'll probably twist as many arms as we can to try to prevent it. But who knows? Maybe enough countries are so sick of our international bullying that they'll let him in.

When Mr. Chávez called Mr. Bush "the devil himself" before the UN General Assembly last week, his remarks generated giggles, even applause. But can he form an alliance against American power?

The next test of his ambition will come next month, when the General Assembly is to decide if Venezuela will be among the next five countries to hold two-year seats on the United Nations Security Council.

"Chávez wants to be a global player taking a part in the big issues of the day - like Iran's right to a nuclear program - and he realizes the [Council] is the perfect platform for him to play that role," says Michael Shifter, vice president at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington.

Although UN diplomats and analysts say that other criteria, including regional ties and economic relations, figure in how countries vote for the coveted Security Council seats, they also acknowledge that the Chávez factor will play a role.

One country that supports Venezuela's campaign is China, which is perhaps not enthralled with the Chávez rhetoric but is lured by the idea of more countries holding its worldview on the Council. China has not been shy about its preference to see greater respect in Security Council deliberations for nation-states' rights, and less attention to individuals' universal rights - ideas implicit in Chávez's discourse.

China also wouldn't mind beefing up the bloc of Security Council countries willing to stand up to the United States, analysts say. Others point out that Venezuela's competition for the open Latin American seat is Guatemala, which has opened diplomatic relations with Taiwan - a move China is keen to discourage.

Some "fence-sitting countries" might be "sympathetic to the notion that some counterweight to American power could be a good thing," says one UN diplomat who asked to remain unnamed because his position in dealing with UN members demands neutrality. "But imagine the pressure that could follow a vote for someone who just called the US president the devil."

Of course the Chávez campaign, joined most publicly by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is not the first time countries have joined to check American power, as some foreign-policy practitioners note.

Thich Nhat Hanh's Letter to President Bush

Well, the thought was there. We know Bush doesn't even listen to his own church. But thanks for trying (sigh).

Last night, I saw my brother (who died two weeks ago in the U.S.A.) coming back to me in a dream. He was with all his children. He told me, “let’s go home together.” After a millisecond of hesitation, I told him joyfully, “Ok, let’s go.”

Waking up from that dream at 5 am this morning, I thought of the situation in the Middle East; and for the first time, I was able to cry. I cried for a long time, and I felt much better after about one hour. Then I went to the kitchen and made some tea. While making tea, I realized that what my brother had said is true: our home is large enough for all of us. Let us go home as brothers and sisters.

Mr. President, I think that if you could allow yourself to cry like I did this morning, you will also feel much better. It is our brothers that we kill over there. They are our brothers, God tells us so, and we also know it. They may not see us as brothers because of their anger, their misunderstanding, and their discrimination. But with some awakening, we can see things in a different way, and this will allow us to respond differently to the situation. I trust God in you; I trust Buddha nature in you.

Thank you for reading.

In gratitude and with brotherhood,
Thich Nhat Hanh
Plum Village

The Senate Buckles To Bush Too

Well, the Dems tried. Barack Obama shined again as one of the voices of the opposition but the Senate passed the bill.

Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, praised the bill. "I am pleased that this legislation before the Senate does not amend, redefine, or modify the Geneva Conventions in any way. The Conventions are preserved intact," he said.

But many opposition Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, disagree, saying the bill falls far short of fair judicial standards and allows for abusive interrogation techniques. "I personally believe this legislation is unconstitutional. It will certainly be struck down by the Supreme Court in the years ahead, and when that happens, we will be back here debating how to bring terrorists to justice," he said.

Human rights groups agree. They note the bill does not allow suspects the right to challenge the legality of their detention in U.S. courts.

A slim majority of Senators rejected an amendment that would have offered detainees that right, arguing that terror suspects are not entitled to the same rights as U.S. soldiers and citizens, and saying such court challenges could hinder detainees' military trials.

Senators also voted down several other amendments that would have, among other things, clarified interrogation tactics and strengthened congressional oversight of military commissions.

Among the other provisions, the overall bill allows for coerced testimony in limited circumstances - if a judge finds it reliable and the statement was taken before a 2005 ban on cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. It also allows for hearsay evidence, again if a judge finds it reliable.

The bill allows defendants limited access to classified evidence used to convict them. It also expands the definition of "enemy combatants" to include those who provide weapons, money and other support to terrorist groups.

I think this bill puts our soldiers at further risk. I'm sure the loved ones of soldiers would love to have bodies shipped back in the condition that Iraqi's are finding theirs. We cannot pretend to be the moral authority for the world and then take less than the high ground. I pray this does go to the Supreme Court gets overturned. Unfortunately, this is an election tactic to use against the Democrats and it may fire up the nutty base just enough to send them to the polls in November.

Not Losing Afghanistan In The US

I noticed this the other day and meant to post on in. Look at the covers for the Oct 2 edition of Newsweek. All of the international covers show "Losing Afghanistan." The US cover features Annie Leibovitz. Don't Americans need to know this?

Last night on "The Daily Show" Jon Stewart joined the pile-up on Newsweek this week, thanks to the decision to replace its cover on "Losing Afghanistan" — seen on Newsweek's international edition around the world — in favor of a cover story on celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, complete with a gallery of her most famous celebrity pics (OMG look, it's Demi Moore!) ...  Stewart calls them on the, er, carpet for that, as seen in the clip ...

You Can't Believe The Intelligence

It's funny how we're supposed to believe the intelligence when it benefits them but ignore it when the intelligence goes against their lies.

It is impossible to know with any precision whether the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have created more terrorists than they've killed, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday.

In his first extensive remarks about a recent U.S. intelligence report saying the threat of terrorism has risen, Rumsfeld told reporters at a NATO meeting that, in general, the value of intelligence reports can be uneven, and "sometimes it's just flat wrong."

But he added that, "the implication that if you stop killing or capturing people who are trying to kill you, then therefore the world would be a better place, is obviously nonsensical."

In the much-discussed National Intelligence Estimate initially reported last weekend, the government's top analysts concluded that Iraq has become a "cause celebre" for jihadists, who are growing in number and geographic reach. If the trend continues, they said, the risks to the U.S. interests at home and abroad surely will grow.

Rumsfeld did not specifically criticize or address the controversial intelligence report, but instead commented more broadly about the terrorist question that has gripped the political world since the report was disclosed last week.

"Are more terrorists being created in the world? We don't know. The world doesn't know," said Rumsfeld, adding that there are no good ways to measure "The world doesn't know. There aren't good ways to measure how many terrorists are being trained at camps around the world."

Oh, they know! They just won't tell.

He Didn't Mean Macaca. He Meant Nigger

The hole just keeps getting deeper for George Allen yet he just keeps digging.

Three former college football teammates of Sen. George Allen say that the Virginia Republican repeatedly used an inflammatory racial epithet and demonstrated racist attitudes toward blacks during the early 1970s.

"Allen said he came to Virginia because he wanted to play football in a place where 'blacks knew their place,'" said Dr. Ken Shelton, a white radiologist in North Carolina who played tight end for the University of Virginia football team when Allen was quarterback. "He used the N-word on a regular basis back then."

A second white teammate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared retribution from the Allen campaign, separately claimed that Allen used the word "nigger" to describe blacks. "It was so common with George when he was among his white friends. This is the terminology he used," the teammate said.

A third white teammate contacted separately, who also spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of being attacked by the Virginia senator, said he too remembers Allen using the word "nigger," though he said he could not recall a specific conversation in which Allen used the term. "My impression of him was that he was a racist," the third teammate said.

Shelton also told Salon that the future senator gave him the nickname "Wizard," because he shared a last name with Robert Shelton, who served in the 1960s as the imperial wizard of the United Klans of America, a group affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan. The radiologist said he decided earlier this year that he would go public with his concerns about Allen if a reporter ever called. About four months ago, when he heard that Allen was a possible candidate for president in 2008, Shelton began to write down some of the negative memories of his former teammate. He provided Salon excerpts of those notes last week.

More and more people are speaking up. I know that there are a lot of liars out there but why would they all lie on him? He may be able to pull off his Senate race by a narrow margin, but I think his Presidential dreams are up in smoke.

This Bill Is Everything We Don't Believe In

We have thousands of soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout a world that is increasingly hostile to the US. No sane person wants to coddle terrorists but when captured they are still suspects, many of whom are innocent. The House passed this bill giving the dumbest President ever the authority to be the decider.

Democrats said they wanted to tone down the powers the bill would give to Bush and the limits it would impose on terror-war suspects' abilities to defend themselves during trials.

Said Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio: "This bill is everything we don't believe in."

Overall, 219 Republicans and 34 Democrats vote for the legislation while 160 Democrats, seven Republicans and one independent voted against it.

During the often partisan debate, some Democrats contended the bill would approve torture.

"All Americans want to hold terrorists accountable, but if we try to redefine the nature of torture, whisk people into secret detention facilities and use secret evidence to convict them in special courts, our actions do in fact embolden our enemies," said Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va.

Others vehemently opposed language that would give the president wide latitude to interpret international standards of prisoner treatment and bar detainees from going to federal court to protest their treatment and detention under the right of habeas corpus. Supporters of the bill have said eliminating habeas corpus was intended to keep detainees from flooding federal courts with appeals.

The bill also gives the president the ability to interpret international standards for prisoner treatment when an act does not fall under the definition of a war crime, such as rape and torture.

"It gives too much leeway to the president," said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa. "And I think when you tamper with the Geneva Conventions ... you hurt our ability to protect the troops."

This is a sad, sad shame.

NAFTA Is a Failure For Workers

It worked for the political and economic big-wigs, of course, but is piss poor for workers.

Canadian, American and Mexican workers have lost jobs and seen their spending power erode under a free-trade deal that was promoted as ``win-win-win'' for workers in all three countries, a new economic report says.

``From the point of view of North American working people, NAFTA has thus far largely failed,'' notes the three-country study examining jobs, wages and labour standards after seven years of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The report, to be released today, is authored by economic institutes that focus on labour issues: the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Canada, the Economic Policy Institute in the United States and the Mexican Institute of Labour Studies and Investigation.

The report describes stagnant and falling wages and, in Canada and the U.S., an increase in the ``threat effect'' in collective bargaining, in which companies threaten to move production to Mexico if workers don't make concessions. That applies especially in mobile industries such as manufacturing, communications and wholesale distribution.

Governments of all three countries consistently have argued that there has been a job boom under NAFTA.

But today's study, by groups that have previously criticized the trade deal, argues there has been a net job loss in the United States and Canada. While total employment grew in Mexico by 1.2 per cent according to the report, it says that is insufficient to meet the demand for new jobs.

U.S. economist Robert Scott reports NAFTA has eliminated some 766,000 manufacturing jobs, while Canadian economist Bruce Campbell details a net loss of 276,000 jobs under free trade, beginning with the U.S.-Canada deal in 1989.

Mexican economist Carlos Salas describes the other end of the equation, in which workers labour at foreign-owned duty-free plants, or maquiladoras, for a few dollars daily, and live in shantytowns that hug the U.S. border.

The Mexican study says the only types of investment that have grown since 1994 are the stock market and the maquiladora industry. These plants are increasingly moving south from the border to states with even lower wages and more lax environmental and health standards than Tijuana or Juarez.

``In the last decade, the minimum wage in Mexico lost almost 50 per cent of its purchasing power,'' says the report. ``The decline in real wages and the lack of access to stable, well-paid jobs are critical problems confronting Mexico's workforce.''

In the Canadian segment of the report, called False Promise, Campbell says workers should be concerned NAFTA is the economic model for hemispheric integration in the proposed Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA).

Next week, 34 leaders from the Americas and the Caribbean meet at the third Summit of the Americas in Quebec city to discuss the expanded free-trade agenda.

``Canada has become a noticeably more unequal society in the free-trade era,'' says the study. ``Real incomes declined for the large majority of Canadians in the 1990s (and) increased only for the top fifth. Employment became more insecure and the social safety net frayed.''

The United States of North America?

Lou Dobbs has been talking about this. That is why I keep telling folks who are frothing at the mouth about illegals that Bush and his croanies have no intention of cracking down. That cheap labor is vital to their interests.

Government documents released by a Freedom of Information Act request reveal the Bush administration is running a "shadow government" with Mexico and Canada in which the U.S. is crafting a broad range of policy in conjunction with its neighbors to the north and south, asserts WND columnist and author Jerome R. Corsi.

The documents, a total of about 1,000 pages, are among the first to be released to Corsi through his FOIA request to the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP, which describes itself as an initiative "to increase security and to enhance prosperity among the three countries through greater cooperation."

"The documents clearly reveal that SPP, working within the U.S. Department of Commerce, is far advanced in putting together a new regional infrastructure, creating a 'shadow' trilateral bureaucracy with Mexico and Canada that is aggressively rewriting a wide range of U.S. administrative law, all without congressional oversight or public disclosure," Corsi said.

Among the initial discoveries, said Corsi, is the existence of an internal Intranet website that never has been revealed to Congress or the public.

"This private internal website," he claims, "undoubtedly contains a wealth of documentation that the FOIA request has so far intentionally excluded."

Corsi told WND the documents reveal hundreds of internal meetings, memoranda of understanding and other referenced agreements that have not been disclosed.

"We have here the beginnings of a whitewash," he said, "in which SPP evidently thinks the public will be hoodwinked by a 'Myths vs. Facts' document posted for public relations purposes on their public website."

Among the documents is an organizational chart accompanied by a listing of trilateral Mexican, Canadian and U.S. administrative officers who report on multiple cabinet level "working groups."

The government watchdog Judicial Watch announced today it has received some of the same documents, including the organizational chart, which can be seen in this pdf file, on page seven.

"There is no specific authorization for this massive administrative-branch integration with Mexico and Canada other than what amounts to a press conference jointly issued by President Bush, Mexico's President Vicente Fox, and Canada's then-Prime Minister Paul Martin on March 23, 2005, at the end of their summit in Waco, Texas," Corsi said.

Corsi added that even the "Myth vs. Facts" blurb on the SPP.gov website admits the SPP is neither a treaty nor a law.

"The Bush administration is trying to create the infrastructure of a new regional North American government in stealth fashion, under the radar and out of public view," Corsi claims. "Where is Congress, asleep at the wheel?"

The SPP organizational chart Corsi obtained shows 13 working groups covering a wide range of public policy issues, including Manufactured Goods; Energy, Food & Agriculture; Rules of Origin' Health; E-Commerce; Transportation; Environment; Financial Services; Business Facilitation; External Threats to North America; Streamlined & Secured Shared Borders; and Prevention/Response within North America.

U.S. administrative-branch officers participating in these working groups are drawn from the U.S. departments of State, Homeland Security, Commerce, Treasury, Agriculture, Transportation, Energy, Health and Human Services, and the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

The released documents affirm that counterparts from official governmental agencies in Mexico and Canada are combined with the U.S. administrative branch to form new trilateral "working groups" that actively rewrite U.S. administrative law to "harmonize" or "integrate" with administrative law in Mexico and Canada.

"What we have here amounts to an administrative coup d'etat," Corsi told WND. "Where does the Bush administration get the congressional authorization to invite two foreign nations to the table to rewrite U.S. law?"

They Cannot Help Themselves!

Un-frickin' believable!

Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), who famously suggested the U.S. wouldn’t have “all these problems” had Strom Thurmond been elected President, said today that the religious differences among Iraqis makes the conflict very difficult for him to understand:

“It’s hard for Americans, all of us, including me, to understand what’s wrong with these people,” he said. “Why do they kill people of other religions because of religion? Why do they hate the Israeli’s and despise their right to exist? Why do they hate each other? Why do Sunnis kill Shiites? How do they tell the difference? They all look the same to me.“

Speaking shortly after a meeting with President Bush and Vice President Cheney, Lott added that Iraq wasn’t among the White House’s priorities.

“No, none of that,” Lott told reporters after the session when asked if the Iraq war was discussed. “You’re [the media] the only ones who obsess on that. We don’t and the real people out in the real world don’t for the most part.“

He needs to put his sheet back on so I can tell the difference! And it's pretty obvious that Iraq isn't a priority when you stay the course.

Cut and Run ... Blah Blah Blah

Broken record!

President Bush counterpunched at Democrats on Thursday, saying their criticism of the war in Iraq has turned their party into one of "cut-and-run" obstructionists.

At a GOP fundraiser, Bush accused Democrats of using a new intelligence estimate that ties the war in Iraq to rising extremism to win votes in November.

The National Intelligence Estimate - compiled by leading analysts across 16 U.S. spy agencies - concluded that Iraq has become a "cause celebre" for jihadists, who are growing in number and geographic reach. If the trend continues, the analysts found, risks to U.S. interests at home and abroad will rise.

Party of 'cut-and-run'
The greatest danger to America is not the U.S. military presence in Iraq, but rather a premature withdrawal of U.S. forces from the war-torn nation, Bush said.

With 40 days left before the Nov. 7 elections, Bush is pushing back against Democrats who point to setbacks in Iraq, a resurgence of violence in Afghanistan - and now the new report - as evidence that the nation needs a change in political leadership.

The stakes in the war - and the election - are high, Bush said.

"Five years after 9-11, Democrats offer nothing but criticism, and obstruction and endless second guessing," Bush said. He said the Democratic Party - the party of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman - has become the "party of cut-and-run."

Bush At War, Part III

Stunning! It's worse than we thought, it's going to get worse in 2007 and Bush won't budge.

The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward is set to release “State of Denial,” the third in his series of books documenting the inner workings of the Bush administration. Woodward will discuss some notable revelations in the book this Sunday on 60 Minutes. Key highlights:

Bush is covering up the extent of violence against U.S. troops in Iraq:

According to Woodward, insurgent attacks against coalition troops occur, on average, every 15 minutes, a shocking fact the administration has kept secret. “It’s getting to the point now where there are eight-, nine-hundred attacks a week. That’s more than 100 a day. That is four an hour attacking our forces,” says Woodward.

Intelligence shows Iraq violence will worsen in 2007:

The situation is getting much worse, says Woodward, despite what the White House and the Pentagon are saying in public. “The truth is that the assessment by intelligence experts is that next year, 2007, is going to get worse and, in public, you have the president and you have the Pentagon [saying], ‘Oh, no, things are going to get better,‘” he tells Wallace. “Now there’s public, and then there’s private. But what did they do with the private? They stamp it secret. No one is supposed to know,” says Woodward.

Bush will not support withdrawing from Iraq under any circumstances:

President Bush is absolutely certain that he has the U.S. and Iraq on the right course, says Woodward. So certain is the president on this matter, Woodward says, that when Mr. Bush had key Republicans to the White House to discuss Iraq, he told them, “I will not withdraw, even if Laura and Barney are the only ones supporting me.”

Does he realize that this war is not about him? He is the President for all of us - though he's never acted like it. If Laura and Barney are the only one's left supporting him, I hope it is because he is behind bars.

Bush's Church Wants Us Out Of Iraq

Well ... we know Bush talks directly to God himself and no one else's advice matters - not even that of his own church.

US President George W. Bush's own church has called for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and is urging direct action to end the war.

Writes Mark Schoeff Jr: United Methodist Church leaders helped launch a week of protest and civil disobedience against the war in Iraq by signing a declaration of peace in the capital, urging President Bush to pull US troops out of the country.

The Declaration of Peace, signed on 21 September 2006, is described as a call for nonviolent action to end the war in Iraq. The Washington DC event was one of 350 staged nationwide to promote the peace initiative.

More than 500 groups, almost half of them faith organizations, are involved in the declaration of peace effort, which recently retired Bishop Susan Morrison said includes "acts of moral witness to seek a new course for our country."

By signing the peace document in front of the White House, the United Methodists and other protesters also hope to influence congressional races in November 2006 by forcing candidates to outline where they stand on the war.

Speakers at the Washington DC rally accusing the President of lying about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction and launching what they called an illegal offensive.

"Our demand as a movement is to end the war now," said Bishop Morrison. The declaration calls the situation in Iraq "an endless fire consuming lives, resources and the fragile possibilities of peace."

Thirty-four protesters, attempting to deliver the peace statement to Bush in an act of civil disobedience, were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. None of the United Methodist protesters participated in that portion of the day's activity.

The Declaration of Peace initiative provides a way for the faithful to vent their anger about Iraq, Morrison said. "There are a lot of frustrated United Methodists out there who don't know where to channel it," she added.

United Methodist clergy attending the recent 2006 International Clergywomen's Consultation in Chicago signed the declaration to "call to end this war" and made a commitment to take action to translate the call into a concrete plan for peace.

Nip/Tucker

After Hugo Chavez's "devil" remarks at the UN and Harlem, Tucker Carlson had a guest on his show who actually supports Chavez with a fervor. Ultimately it turned into someone of a battle of insults. But, as we saw when Jon Stewart called him a dick, he's not really good at comebacks. He definitely shouldn't have tried to "play the dozens" with NYC Councilman Charles Barron.

CARLSON: ... that it was disgraceful that Hugo Chavez came to this country and attacked the President as the devil. What the hell does that mean, anyway? Speaking of a stupid thing to say.

But what do you make of that? Charlie Rangel, is he a tool of the right wing now?

BARRON: Well, first of all, it was stupid for George Bush to call the “axis of evil.” Just put a “D” on “evil” and you‘ve got “devil”. How come he can call three countries the axis of evil, and how come Ronald Reagan can cause Russia “the evil empire”?

So, if you can use those theological terms, then a man that participates in devilish acts, like bombing Iraq, based upon lies, killing tens of thousands of Iraqis, 2,500 Americans, a man who can play golf while we are dying in New Orleans with Katrina, those are devilish acts. And he‘s earned the title very well.

CARLSON: So you think—you think it‘s fair to call the President of the United States the devil?

BARRON: Most appropriate. This President. Most appropriate.

CARLSON: Boy, that is just—that is deranged.

BARRON: You can call it deranged all you want.

CARLSON: As I‘ve said before, I can‘t imagine—I can‘t imagine who elects you to office. But let‘s get back to Mr. Rangel...

BARRON: Well, I can‘t imagine who would let you on the air with the limited amount of intelligence you have and knowledge you have on foreign policy.
.

Tucker Carlson should have had enough when Jon Stewart called him a dick a couple of years ago on Crossfire. But he definitely should have known that you DO NOT "play the dozens" with a black person. Here is some more from that verbal exchange:

CARLSON: So let me—let‘s—OK. Let‘s get to the truth of this.

You and others on the international left like anyone who attacks the United States government. That—I mean, this is longstanding tradition going back 45...

BARRON: That is such a...

CARLSON: No, that‘s true.

BARRON: No, that‘s a brainless argument. Do you know why you say that?

CARLSON: No, it‘s true, though.

BARRON: So you don‘t have any intellectual discourse with us around the facts.

[...]

BARRON: The reality is—the reality is, Hugo Chavez is a humanitarian. Bush and Blair should follow his lead. A good man.

CARLSON: That‘s so demented, I don‘t know what to say...

BARRON: Good man.

CARLSON: ... other than thank you, Mr. Barron...

BARRON: You‘re welcome.

CARLSON: ... for coming on and making all of us feel reasonable by comparison. I appreciate it.

BARRON: Have a good day. Learn how to dance, Tucker.

Somebody made Tucker take off the bowtie, get a tan and try to look less dorky. But, I don't know what the heck he was doing on Dancing With The Stars. He's got children and I'm not sure how they got here.

Can We Take A Hint?

They want us GONE!

About six in 10 Iraqis say they approve of attacks on U.S.-led forces, and slightly more than that want their government to ask U.S. troops to leave within a year, according to a poll in that country.

The Iraqis also have negative views of Osama bin Laden, according to the early September poll of 1,150.

The poll, done for University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, found:

_Almost four in five Iraqis say the U.S. military force in Iraq provokes more violence than it prevents.

_About 61 percent approved of the attacks - up from 47 percent in January. A solid majority of Shiite and Sunni Arabs approved of the attacks, according to the poll. The increase came mostly among Shiite Iraqis.

_An overwhelmingly negative opinion of terror chief bin Laden and more than half, 57 percent, disapproving of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

_Three-fourths say they think the United States plans to keep military bases in Iraq permanently.

_A