Weather Anchor Loses His Cool...

"CNN anchor Carol Costello earns the wrath of weather anchor Chad Myers on live TV, by being terribly annoying... "click title for link to video...

COURTESY OF WIZBANG.......ADDED TO THE BLOGROLL AND DEFINITELY A DAILY READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!

647 dead in Baghdad stampede

301 injured as railing collapses amid fear of suicide bomber

At least 647 people have been killed and 301 others injured in a stampede on a bridge near a Shiite mosque in northern Baghdad, police sources said.
A large number of those killed were women and children, sources said.
According to witnesses, the stampede started after someone screamed that a suicide bomber was in the crowd of pilgrims gathered for a religious commemoration Wednesday.
A railing on the bridge then collapsed under the crush of people, and hundreds fell to their deaths in the Tigris River about 30 meters (yards) below, CNN's Jennifer Eccleston reported.According to police, some people were crushed to death but most drowned. Police expect the death toll to rise as they continue to pull bodies from the river. The dead and wounded inundated five hospitals in the Kadhimiya area.The stampede took place at about 11:30 a.m. (3:30 a.m. EDT) near the Kadhimiya mosque, where pilgrims were gathered to commemorate the death of Imam Moussa al-Khadhem, a prominent figure in Shiite history who is buried at the Kadhimiya mosque.Hours earlier, a mortar attack in the area killed seven people and wounded 36 others, police said....

INFO ON MISSING PERSONS AFTER HURRICANE KATRINA

CALL 1-866-GET-INFO OR CLICK ON TITLE FOR LINK

THE SITE WAS HACKED AND DUE TO LARGE AMOUNTS OF PEOPLE LOOKING FOR INFO IT MAY TAKE A COUPLE TRIES TO GET IN...

THERE ARE OTHER RESOURCES FOR HELP IN GETTING INFO ON VICTIMS AND SURVIVORS POSTED ON OUR HOMEPAGE.

Katrina Aftermath: Where to turn for information

Disaster response officials are urging evacuated residents not to return for at least a week to areas of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi hit hard by Hurricane Katrina.
"When folks who are desperate are trying to get home, it just makes it more difficult for us to get to folks whose lives are in danger," Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Tuesday.
"The roads are blocked with water in many cases," she explained. "Even if you drive up to a certain area, you're going to have to get into a boat, and we don't have boats to take citizens back to their property. All our boats are engaged in search and rescue."
Officials are asking people not to contact local fire and police agencies, which are busy responding to emergencies. Instead, disaster officials recommend the following Web sites and phone numbers: .....
CLICK TITLE FOR LINK...........General information,Next of kin,Property damage and temporary housing.....

IN THE MIDST OF DEATH AND DISASTER ...LET'S BLAME BUSH

GERMAN PAPERS AND THOSE ON THE LEFT: Katrina Should be A Lesson To US on Global Warming
Seems like everything is President Bush's fault. One day after Katrina hammered the Gulf Coast, German commentators are laying into the US for its stubborn attitude to global warming and Kyoto.Hurricane Katrina is big news for German commentators, whatever their ilk. For some, the powerful storm which slammed the Gulf Coast on Monday, is a symbol of the sort of environmental terrors awaiting the world thanks to global warming and proof positive that America needs to quickly reverse its policy of playing down climate change. For the more conservative, it is simply another regrettable natural catastrophe... LINK


Storms Vary With Cycles, Experts Say
Because hurricanes form over warm ocean water, it is easy to assume that the recent rise in their number and ferocity is because of global warming.
But that is not the case, scientists say. Instead, the severity of hurricane seasons changes with cycles of temperatures of several decades in the Atlantic Ocean. The recent onslaught "is very much natural," said William M. Gray, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University who issues forecasts for the hurricane season....Mr. Gray is not the first person to state this......the cycle is around 20 years.

CYOUINCOURT007: HOW DARE YOU PEOPLE....THE SAME FOLKS WHO TAKE JOY IN THE DEATH OF OUR TROOPS IN IRAQ IN ORDER TO HAVE THEIR TALKING POINTS AND BUSH BASHING ARE THE SAME PEOPLE WHO IN THE MIDST OF SUCH A TRAGIC NATURAL DISASTER WOULD HAVE THE AUDACITY TO USE THIS OCCURRENCE TO BLAME BUSH....I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR POLITICS.....PEOPLE ARE DEAD,STRANDED AND SCARRED FOR LIFE...........NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR YOUR POLITICAL GARBAGE.SICK AND TWISTED INDIVIDUALS....

Tensions inside the Superdome rise along with refugees' ranks

The rescuers on the boat only had room for Lee Coleman's wife, his two daughters and his mother-in-law.
So he trudged - more than two miles - through black water coated in rainbow-tinged oil. Past the abandoned cars swallowed by the flood waters. Past a single blue flip-flop floating next to the bombed-out bank.
His final destination: the Louisiana Superdome, the designated refuge of last resort from Hurricane Katrina's onslaught. On Tuesday, though, the signature stadium was transformed into the city's Alamo.
Surrounding it was the enemy - millions of gallons of water from Lake Pontchartrain that flooded most of the city......"At home, the water was 6 feet high," sighed a defeated Coleman, carrying only one plastic grocery bag of snacks.
Coleman was one of hundreds of storm refugees who flocked to the Superdome in scenes that seemed biblical in scope.
They came loaded in the backs of fatigue green and desert tan Army trucks. Some arrived on the backs of commandeered U-Haul trucks, while others were dropped off after being ferried from rooftops by Coast Guard helicopters.
Many more just walked, or waded, into a dome that was growing more tense and chaotic than the previous day, when few realized that the flooding - and the ranks inside the shelter - would increase dramatically.
The tally of people was expected to swell to as many as 20,000 - double the number who arrived the day before. And officials are mulling whether to evacuate the stadium.
On Monday, the turf adorned with the New Orleans Saints logo was off-limits to refugees, but on Tuesday officials allowed the restless to roam the field. Barricades portioned the field into thirds, allowing teenagers a once-in-a-lifetime chance to play touch football where the pros do.
As if from alien spaceships, two fierce shafts of light beamed down from the huge holes in the dome caused by Katrina's 100-mph winds. Kids jumped in and out of them.
But for most, the stay at the dome was far from fun.
The stadium aisles, where footballs fans normally buy beer on Sundays, were crammed with people who had not showered in days. The air was sour and suffocating.
People waited, not always patiently, in long lines for a chance to go out onto the outdoor stadium patio, where officials allowed them to smoke, mingle and breathe some fresh air.
Inside, babies napped quietly amid the bustle. One woman, lost and overwhelmed, bawled uncontrollably.
At least two people have died from apparent heart attacks, said Assistant Police Chief Warren Riley. Another man died after a plunge from the upper-level seats - a possible suicide.
Louisiana National Guardsmen fashioned a makeshift triage unit on the loading docks of the stadium. Military and civilian doctors rushed from cot to cot, monitoring oxygen levels of storm victims.
Tuesday morning, as waters began rising from the breaches in the levee system, emergency personnel worked with soldiers to evacuate the worst of the sick to Baton Rouge. Medical supplies were low, and the dome was not a hospital.
"We've just exhausted our resources," said Keith Carter, the director of Paffard Medical Services. "We need to evacuate."
Patients from a mental clinic lay in the olive green Army cots. One was completely naked, tied to the cot by his feet and hands, rolling his head from side to side. Another became so agitated that he had to be restrained by a soldier, his hands bounded by tape.
Nearby sat Army Chaplin Lt. Col. Walter Austin, rubbing the back of an elderly woman hooked up to an oxygen tank, her face twisted in tears. He whispered reassurances in her ear.
Since the storm, Austin - a Catholic chaplain wearing a beret adorned with a cross - had been reassuring the weary refugees at the dome.
"All people are going to be distressed, and the elderly get very distressed when they have a traumatic change in their lives," he said.
That morning, as the flood waters rose, he held a religious service. More than 1,000 people attended......Out on the loading dock, Jose Mejilla, 45, said he walked several miles from his home to the Superdome, carrying a duffel bag with his only belongings. He slouched as he gratefully devoured an Army meal-ready-to-eat.
"I never thought I would see New Orleans this way," he said in Spanish. "I feel like I'm dead."

Pentagon mobilizing relief efforts

Ships, aircraft, more than 125,000 troops head to Gulf Coast

The Pentagon was mobilizing troops and resources Tuesday as part of a massive relief effort in the Gulf Coast areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
A National Guard spokesman said more than 125,000 troops had been activated in 19 states and Washington, D.C., to help local agencies with traffic control, security, distributing food, and search and rescue.
The Navy said the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan was off the Louisiana coast and that its helicopters were already flying relief missions.
The ship, which resembles a small aircraft carrier, can produce large quantities of fresh water and is equipped with 600 hospital beds.
Several other ships, including a rescue and salvage vessel and the USS Iwo Jima, another amphibious ship, were on their way from Norfolk, Virginia, the Navy said.
The USNS Comfort, a floating hospital based in Baltimore, Maryland, will depart in coming days. A medical crew from Bethesda Naval Hospital will staff the ship. It has full hospital capabilities, including operating rooms and hundreds of beds.The Air Force said it was sending two large cargo planes to the region -- a C-5 Galaxy to Louisiana and a C-17 to Mississippi.
Besides humanitarian aid, the C-5 is bringing in swift boats, which can maneuver in shallow floodwaters to ferry rescue workers and victims. The C-17 is outfitted to evacuate 36 sick and injured people at a time....

AP: FBI to Do Prisoner 'Threat Assessment'

AP NewsBreak: FBI Will Do 'Threat Assessment' of Nation's Prison Inmates

FBI agents nationwide have been ordered to conduct "threat assessments" of inmates who might have become radicalized in prison and could commit extremist violence upon their release, according to an FBI letter obtained by The Associated Press.
"The primary goal of these efforts is to assess and disrupt the recruitment and conversion of inmates to radicalized ideologies which advocate violence," according to a letter from the acting assistant chief of the FBI's Los Angeles office, Randy D. Parsons.
The agency has been trying to identify potentially disruptive groups for "some time," according to the letter. "However, recent investigations have identified a clear need to increase the FBI's focus and commitment in this area," Parsons wrote in the letter, which was dated Friday and obtained Tuesday by the AP.He said the FBI wants to increase its efforts to "identify, report, analyze and disrupt efforts by extremist persons or groups to radicalize, recruit or advocate for the purpose of violence within correctional facilities."
California prison officials confirmed receiving the letter.
The order comes as an investigation continues into whether a suspected Southern California terror plot originated in a state prison in Folsom, near Sacramento. Three Los Angeles area men, including a parolee from California State Prison, Sacramento, are suspected of plotting attacks on Jewish and National Guard sites.

N.H. Doctor in Hot Seat Again Over Remarks=Witch Hunt

State Investigates N.H. Doctor Again, Now Over Accusations He Made Racial Remark to Obese Woman

The state is investigating a doctor accused of telling a patient she was so obese she might only be attractive to black men and advising another to shoot herself following brain surgery.
"Let's face it, if your husband were to die tomorrow, who would want you?" the state Board of Medicine says Dr. Terry Bennett told the overweight patient in June 2004.
"Well, men might want you, but not the types you want to want you. Might even be a black guy," it quoted him as saying, based on the woman's complaint.The board said it also is taking a second look at a 2001 allegation deemed unfounded at the time that Bennett told a woman recovering from brain surgery to buy a pistol and shoot herself to end her suffering.
Bennett made national news last week when the complaint from the obese woman became public without any mention of the racial comment. But Senior Assistant Attorney General Richard Head, who leads the state Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau, said Tuesday the woman complained about the racial remark, not about being lectured.
In a telephone interview Tuesday from Rochester, Bennett denied any wrongdoing and defended his message to her, saying he has read polls that say black men prefer overweight women.
Bennett added that he is angry the board is reconsidering the 2001 complaint.
"That patient is currently in a nursing home completely demented, tied to a chair drooling on herself and doesn't recognize anybody," said Bennett, 67. "She was in pretty nearly that condition at the time she filed that complaint."
Bennett's lawyer, Charles Douglas, said his client is being attacked by the board, which, by its own rules, does not discipline doctors for bedside manner.
"If a patient does not like the message, go to another doctor," Douglas said.

Release of 5 Cuban Agents(Spies) in U.S. Sought

Several Nobel laureates and leftist intellectuals called for the release of five Cuban agents awaiting a new trial in the United States in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales released Tuesday.
Desmond Tutu, Noam Chomsky and Rigoberta Menchu were among hundreds who signed the letter, which said "nothing justifies (the men's) incarceration" given a recent ruling to throw out their previous convictions.
Earlier this month, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta nullified convictions and sentences from the men's trial in Miami, citing prejudicial publicity. Many Cuban immigrants opposed to President Fidel Castro and his communist government live in the Miami area.

"This arbitrary situation which is extremely painful for them and their families cannot be allowed to continue," said the letter, also signed by American personalities such as Alice Walker, Danny Glover and Harry Belafonte.

Three of the men were also convicted of espionage conspiracy for efforts to penetrate U.S. military bases, and one was additionally found guilty of murder conspiracy in the deaths of four Miami-based pilots whose small, private planes were shot down by a Cuban MiG in 1996........

cyouincourt007: two single engine unarmed cessna's from brothers to the rescue were shot down in cold blood.......why do Danny Glover and the rest defend those spies among us......those who murder the innocent they support.....but the country that allows Glover and the rest to spew their filth..they do not defend.........it's no secret....folks like Jack Nicholson and the rest go smoke cigars with Castro while he places spies in the pentagon and his people starve.....

Pentagon to retain D.C. shootdown authority

Homeland agency will not give order to take out errant aircraft over capital

The Homeland Security Department will not gain authority to order shootdowns of threatening aircraft over the nation's capital, officials said Tuesday, eliminating possible confusion between its role and the Pentagon’s during emergencies....Currently, the Defense Department is the only agency authorized to shoot down aircraft around Washington.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff have not yet signed off on an agreement clarifying the Pentagon's authority to order shootdowns, Assistant Defense Secretary Paul McHale said Tuesday.... helicopters from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (another branch of the Homeland Security Department) respond to airborne threats above Washington.
Whether Customs or the Coast Guard will ultimately be in charge of protecting the region's airspace has not yet been decided, said Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke..........

Hurricane Katrina Devastates the Gulf Coast

Here's How You Can Help.........
Click on the title for links to pictures,info and how you can help.......


NEW ORLEANS - The second day brought more horror, greater despair: The death toll exceeded 100 - in just one county.

Rescuers acrobatically plucked thousands from the crests of roofs. Levees failed, and panic flared and spread.

New, terrifying floods swept through the heart of New Orleans. Water swamped 80 percent of the city. And yet fires raged, fed by leaking gas.

Medics transformed part of the Superdome into a triage center, but water lapped at the edges of the arena. Looters roamed. Martial law was declared and the governor worked on plans to shut New Orleans - a place very close to ruin - and remove everyone still there.

``We've lost our city,'' said Marc Morial, a former mayor of New Orleans, now serving as president of the National Urban League. ``I fear it's potentially like Pompeii.''

The awful panorama of Hurricane Katrina's devastation stretched across four coastal states, and a rag-tag, numbed army of refugees searched desperately for the bare necessities of life - water, food, shelter and, to escape from it all, gasoline.

``There's nowhere, nowhere to go,'' said Robert Smith, a truck driver who fled New Orleans with his family of six and ended up stranded on Interstate 10 near Gulfport, Miss. ``There's nowhere to eat, get gas or stay.''

Water surrounded the road, and it was getting deeper. Closer to New Orleans, over Lake Pontchartrain, the highway lay crumbled, ruined.

More than 55 people were dead, killed by the worst hurricane to strike the United States in memory, and the number seemed certain to rise. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said he believed 80 people died in just one county.

In Biloxi, Miss., authorities and volunteers pulled bodies from 12-foot piles of rubble while hearses and trucks cruised Howard Avenue, assigned to carry the corpses. Five bodies were recovered in five blocks in only a few hours.

``I've never seen anything like this in my life,'' said resident David McCaleb.

In Biloxi, New Orleans and across the vast expanse of disaster, Coast Guard, National Guard and other crews saved countless victims, sometimes by boat, frequently by air.

Like angels, the rescuers floated, fluttered, sailed from the clouds, embraced the needy, lifted them to safety.

The experience was electric, the vista heartbreaking.

``To be elevated and have a bird's eye view of the neighborhood that I grew up in and love was awful,'' said Gene Daymude, a local art dealer carried over floods and into a helicopter by a wire basket........

HURRICANE KATRINA:DEATH TOLL @ 56

An oil platform broke its mooring causing it to hit a bridge at Mobile, Alabama.

Hurricane Katrina left at least 56 people dead Monday, 50 of them in one Mississippi county, according to The Associated Press, and the toll was expected to climb following one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the northern Gulf Coast in a half century.
More than 12 hours after making landfall on the Louisiana coast east of New Orleans, Katrina was downgraded to a tropical storm with winds of 60 mph Monday evening.The storm's daylong rampage claimed lives and ravaged property in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, where coastal areas remained under several feet of water.The AP quoted Jim Pollard, a spokesman for the emergency operations center in Mississippi's Harrison County, as saying 50 people were killed in the county, most of them at an apartment complex in the casino resort town of Biloxi.

France, Belgium blacklist airlines

France and Belgium have issued blacklists of airlines prohibited from using their airports, in an attempt to allay public fears about flying after a recent series of deadly crashes.
The French list comprises six companies from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Thailand, North Korea, Mozambique and Liberia. Belgium's list released Monday includes nine airlines from Egypt, Armenia, Congo, Libya, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Ukraine and the Central African Republic.
Swiss civil aviation officials said they planned to release a similar list Thursday.
Proposals for a European blacklist were still working their way through lawmaking institutions, prompting individual countries to take action in the meantime...

Ontario Bans Pit Bulls in Wake of Attacks

Ontario Is First Province in Canada to Ban Pit Bulls in Wake of Attacks; Owners Challenge Law

Ontario on Monday became the first province in Canada to ban the pit bull in the wake of vicious attacks by the dogs, but defiant owners have already challenged the law.
The measure makes it illegal to breed pit bulls or bring the dogs into the province. Those already in Ontario will be allowed to stay on a restricted basis, provided they're spayed, and leashed and muzzled in public.
There's a 60-day grace period, until Oct. 28, for owners to comply with the law. Any pit bull born after that will have to be shipped out of the province, sent to a research facility or destroyed.Owners who violate the law can face up to six months in jail."I've seen enough, I'm glad the law is finally coming into effect," said Louise Ellis, whose 5-year-old daughter needed 300 stitches to close the wounds of a pit bull attack......

Sharon: Not All Settlements in Final Deal

Ariel Sharon Says Not All Current Settlements Will Remain in Final Peace Agreement

Not all Israeli settlements in the West Bank will remain in place in a final peace accord with the Palestinians, but there will be no pullbacks comparable to this month's evacuations, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday.
Sharon spoke as a senior Egyptian mediator discussed Gaza border crossings and pried a pledge from Palestinian militants to maintain a truce with Israel despite a surge of violence following the withdrawal from Gaza and part of the West Bank.
Interviewed on Channel 10 TV, Sharon insisted that all of the main settlement blocs would remain under Israeli sovereignty, but "not all the settlements of today in Judea and Samaria will remain," calling the West Bank by its biblical names.He was not specific, but he appeared to be referring to small enclaves around Palestinian cities, as opposed to larger ones near the line with Israel...

Beijing Police Raid Rights Group Office

BEIJING, Aug. 29 - The Chinese police raided the office of an American-financed human rights group here on Monday shortly before the arrival of the United Nations human rights chief, as the authorities sought to keep a tight lid on dissent during the visit.
The police searched the offices and copied computer files at the Empowerment and Rights Institute, a leading legal and human rights advisory group, employees and visitors to the offices said. The group's director, Hou Wenzhuo, said as many as 10 plainclothes and uniformed police officers had come to her home as well, but had not arrested her.The raid came shortly before Louise Arbour, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, arrived in Beijing to discuss China's rights record with senior Communist Party officials.

Ms. Hou said she had hoped to meet with Ms. Arbour to present evidence she has collected about human rights abuses. Her group has documented what she described as systematic suppression of people who complain about problems like land confiscations and police torture.
She said she feared that the police could take further action to prevent her from meeting Ms. Arbour and to punish her and her associates for accumulating records of rights abuses..........................

Fear keeps Darfur refugees from going home

Despite new protections, threat of rape, murder by Arab militants persists
EL-GENEINA, Sudan :The killings and burnings of homes have diminished since terrified villagers in Sudan"s West Darfur state fled to camps for the displaced and African Union soldiers arrived to protect them.
But a campaign of intimidation blamed on semi-nomadic Arabs known as the Janjaweed continues, and has cut so deeply into the local psyche that refugees can't shake their fear of going home.
Many of those in the camps complain it still is not safe even to venture to the outskirts of the compound, let alone trek to far off villages."If we go outside the camp, we might be raped. If we go back to the village we may be killed," said Ashya Diar Sugu, who has lived at Riad camp on the outskirts of el-Geneina since the nomads attacked her home two years ago. They killed her husband...

Colleges try to contend with hovering parents

One school decides to prioritize educating students over customer service(I WOULD HOPE SO...SHEESH)

HAMILTON, N.Y. :They're called helicopter parents, for their habit of hovering hyper involved over their childrens lives. Here at Colgate University, as elsewhere, they have become increasingly bold in recent years, telephoning administrators to complain about their childrens housing assignments, roommates and grades.
Recently, one parent demanded to know what Colgate planned to do about the sub par plumbing her daughter encountered on a study abroad trip to China.
Thats just part of how this generation has been raised, said Mark Thompson, head of Colgates counseling services. You add a $40,000 price tag for a school like Colgate, and you have high expectations for what you get....

We noticed what everybody else noticed. We have a generation of parents that are heavily involved in their students lives and it causes all sorts of problems, said Dean of the College Adam Weinberg. College, he said, should be a time when you go from living in someone elses house to becoming a functioning, autonomous person......................

CYOUINCOURT007: I BEG TO DIFFER ON THIS ONE...A BALANCE SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE OF BOTH EXTREMES ....NOT MICROMANAGEMENT BUT DEFINITELY SOME INVOLVEMENT...

Sri Lanka PM focuses on ending civil war

Sri Lanka's prime minister, now a high-profile candidate in presidential elections to be held later this year, said Monday his top priority would be to end the civil war with Tamil Tiger rebels.
Mahinda Rajapakse, in an interview with The Associated Press, said he would even be willing to be the first Sri Lankan president to meet the rebels' secretive leader.
"I am willing to walk an extra mile to reach (the) goal of peace," he said.
The presidential elections, which must be held before Nov. 22, are coming at one of the most tense times in Sri Lanka since an 2002 cease-fire brought a halt to fighting between the government and the Tigers....

Hurricane Katrina : "Head For The Hills"

Judging by what this Hurricane did in South Florida when it was a Cat 1...it's scary to think of what their going through in the effected areas now........Thanks to those of you who been looking out for us down hear.......and as P said.....let's focus our prayers on those in the path of this monster.........

Hurricane Katrina Aftermath: Calm to Chaos

PLEASE READ THIS IN IT'S ENTIRETY AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK : )
I FIRST WANT TO SAY THAT WE CAN MAKE IT.....WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH WORSE.......
BORN AND RAISED IN MIAMI FLORIDA.....I WAS HERE FOR ANDREW AND THE REST.......... BUT........SOMETHING HERE IS NOT RIGHT...........
THE AREA OF DESTRUCTION IS LARGE AND CONSISTENT THROUGHOUT MIAMI.........I CAN ONLY BELIEVE THAT WHAT CAUSED ALL THIS DAMAGE WAS AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF TORNADOS........TREES ARE DOWN AND BLOCKING ROADS EVERYWHERE.........STREET LIGHTS ARE OUT AND ACCIDENTS ARE ARISING DUE TO ASSCLOWN DRIVERS.........POLICE PRESENCE IS MINIMAL.....MOSTLY UNDERCOVER VEHICLES DIVING AROUND..........I SAW A GUY GET OUT AND PARK HIS CAR AND START DIRECTING TRAFFIC HIMSELF AT A MAIN INTERSECTION......HE WAS NOT A COP ...JUST SOMEONE WHO WANTED TO DO HIS PART......GAS LINES EXTEND FOR AT LEAST A BLOCK AT THE ONLY FEW PLACES THAT HAVE POWER/GAS......BUT IF YOU GET ON THE TURNPIKE AND GO TO THE SERVICE PLAZA(NEXT TO FHP STATION) @ ABOUT 152ST THERE IS TONS OF GAS AND A 5 MINUTE WAIT(THANK YOU SARGINI FOR THE HEADS UP).................FPL IS NOWHERE TO BE SEEN.....................I SAW A CONVOY OF 16 TRUCKS ON THE TURNPKIE JUST SITTING THERE HANGING OUT....

TO PUT THIS INTO PERSPECTIVE FOR YOU............I DROVE TO MY MOMS HOUSE TO MAKE SURE ALL WAS FINE YESTERDAY......FROM COUNTRY WALK TO KENDALL............NOT A SMALL DRIVE BUT NOT CLOSE BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION................THE DEVASTATION AND DAMAGE IS EVERYWHERE..........CERTAIN STREETS WERE BLOCKED BY DOWN TREES.......LIGHT POLES AND POWER LINES SNAPPED IN HALF....RESIDENTS RESORTED TO PLACING YELLOW CAUTION TAPE AND USING THEIR CARS TO BLOCK THE AREAS..................

I AM NOT COMPLAINING OR BELLYACHING BUT SIMPLY WISHING TO POINT OUT SOME WEIRD THINGS.......AFTER ANDREW WE ALL LEARNED.....FROM OUR COUNTIES EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT TEAMS.....TO THE AVERAGE HOMEOWNER......WE DIDN'T LISTEN WHEN WE WERE TOLD IT WAS A CAT 1 COMING IN.....WE PREPARED FOR THE WORST AND HOPED FOR THE BEST BUT........SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE IN MANAGEMENT DID NOT EXPECT THIS.............SINCE ANDREW........AFTER A HURRICANE WE WOULD SEE LAW ENFORCEMENT,NATIONAL GUARD,FEMA..................BUT NOW.....IT REMINDS ME OF THE LAWLESSNESS IN THE AFTERMATH OF ANDREW......WHERE PEOPLE SAT ON THEIR FRONT PORCH WITH SIGNS SAYING "YOU LOOT WE SHOOT".......THANKFULLY I SEE KNOW SIGNS OF ANYONE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE SITUATION AND RESORTING TO VIOLENCE AND ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES(EXCEPT FOR PRICE GUAGING AND SELLING ONLY PREMIUM GAS WHEN THEY HAVE ALL TYPES ETC).........

LAST NIGHT WHILE I SAT THEIR LISTENING TO AM RADIO......... 1 RADIO WITH ENGLISH TALK SHOW AND 1 RADIO ....A SPANISH TALK SHOW.......... I HEARD A GENTLE MEN CALL IN ON SPANISH RADIO AND CONFIRM WHAT I ALREADY BELIEVED TO BE TRUE.................I CANNOT CONFIRM OR DENY WHAT HE SAID BUT I'LL BET YOU HE WAS SAYING THE TRUTH...............THE GUY CALLED IN ANONYMOUSLY AND STATED HE WORKED FOR FPL...............BASICALLY SINCE THEY HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO RAISE THE RATES ENOUGH TO BANKRUPT US ALL(EVERYTIME I LOOK @ OUR ELECTRIC BILL AND HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE ..THEY GO UP DUE TO HURRICANE COSTS).............HE SAID SINCE THEY DIDN'T GET WHAT THEY WANTED....THEIR IS AN UNSPOKEN BUT FIRM AGREEMENT AMONG THEMSELVES TO SHOW US HOW MUCH WE NEED THEM......I.E. THEIR NOT GOING TO BUST THIER BUTTS AND GET THINGS BACK IN WORKING ORDER AS FAST AS POSSIBLE ......THEY WILL DO IT BUT SLOWLY .....SO THAT NEXT TIME A RATE INCREASE IS ON THE TABLE WE WILL SAY OMG GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT .....WE NEED IT ETC ETC ETC......I TAKE WHAT HE SAID WITH A GRAIN OF SALT BUT MY TRAVELS BACK AND FORTH SINCE THE HURRICANE HIT......TELL ME THAT THERE IS A CERTAIN TRUTH TO WHAT HE SAID......

AND LASTLY.........NOW THAT TREES ARE DOWN EVERYWHERE PEOPLE ARE UP IN ARMS ABOUT CERTAIN TREES LIKE FICUS AND OTHERS THAT ARE NOT NATIVE AND ARE THE ONES MOST PRONE TO FALL AND MESS UP POWERLINES AND PROPERTY........MANY A FOLKS ARE SAYING NOT TO REPLANT THEM AND TO USE NATIVE TREES THAT ARE MORE HURRICANE RESSISTANT BUT........
THIS ANGERS ME..............WHEN HURRICAN SEASON BEGAN I HAD SOMEONE TRIM MY FICUS TREES(THEY HACKED THEM DOWN TO NOTHING ALMOST CAUSEING ME A HEARTATTACK)......BUT NONETHELESS THEY ARE HURRICANE PROOF......AND GUESS WHAT HAPPENED.........WE GOT CITED BY THE COUNTY AND THREATENED WITH LIKE A 5,000 FINE FOR EACH TREE "DESTROYED"........THEIR ALREADY GROWING BACK LEAVES AND DOING FINE....BUT IF I HAD NOT HAD SOMEONE HURRICANE PROOF THEM THEY TOO WOULD BE DOWN AND CAUSING PROBLEMS......SO IN ESSENCE IF I DO WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO I GET FINED AND WHEN YOU DON'T THEN IT'S OUR TREES WHO COME DOWN AND RUIN EVERYTING..........WELL I GOT TO .................THIS CAT 1 DID NOT FLATTEN HOUSES AND SO ON BUT IT SEEMS LIKE EVERYSINGLE TREE IN EXISTENCE FOR MILES AND MILES WAS BROUGHT DOWN.............SOMEONE DROPPED THE BALL ON THIS ONE BIG TIME AND IT SEEMS LIKE NOBODY IS STEPPING UP TO BAT..........IT SEEMS LIKE THE ONLY ONES NOT SHELL SHOCKED AND DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THIS IS US....THE RESIDENTS..........WERE WORKING TOGETHER IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS BUT WHO'S HELPING US....GTG CYAAAAAAAAAA

N.M., Mexican Governors to Bulldoze Town

The governors of New Mexico and its southern neighbor, the Mexican state of Chihuahua, agreed Friday to bulldoze or board up buildings in a semi-abandoned border town that is a haven for would-be immigrants and smugglers.
Gov. Bill Richardson and Chihuahua Gov. Jose Reyes Baeza also said they hoped to establish a police presence to end lawlessness in the dusty Mexican community of Las Chepas, which is considered a staging ground for migrants and drug and human smugglers.
It was the governors' first meeting since Richardson, citing growing violence, declared a state of emergency in New Mexico's four border counties earlier this month......

Turk, Moroccan nabbed in huge worm case

Suspects allegedly created worm that disrupted computer networks of major U.S. news organizations.

An 18-year-old Moroccan national and a 21-year-old resident of Turkey have been arrested for creating and spreading computer worms that disrupted services on computer networks of major U.S news organizations and other institutions earlier this month, the FBI announced Friday.
Farid Essebar, a Moroccan who used the screen name "Diabl0," and Atilla Ekici of Turkey, who used the moniker "Coder," were arrested in their home countries by authorities who cooperated with U.S. investigators in tracking the origins of the Mytob worm; a damaging variant, Zotob; and a third worm, RBot.
Assistant FBI Director Louis Reigel, who heads the Cyber Division, said investigators believe Essebar was the author of the codes and sold them to Ekici for financial gain. He said investigators had not determined what other financial crimes may be involved, but said there was not yet evidence of planned identity theft, bank fraud or forgery......

Aruba re-arrests two brothers in missing teen case

Two Surinamese brothers who had been detained and released in the Natalee Holloway case were arrested again Friday after "new facts and circumstances" emerged, adding yet another twist in the mysterious disappearance of a vacationing American teenager.
Satish and Deepak Kalpoe were arrested on suspicion of involvement, with unidentified "other people," in premeditated murder and rape, Aruba's prosecutor's office said in a statement.
To arrest them again, "there had to be new facts and circumstances. That is the case," the statement said. Authorities declined to disclose any other details of the new evidence.
The prosecutor's office also said the brothers were suspected of other offenses, but they did not provide details. No information was disclosed about a third man who authorities said was arrested Friday with the Kalpoes.
A judge later ruled that prosecutors had enough evidence to hold the three men for at least eight days while they build their case, said Elgin Zeppenveldt, a lawyer for Satish Kalpoe......

Oh Man Oh Man

Courtesy CafePress.com.....click title for link(t-shirts etc)......

Hamas Bombmaker Vows to Continue Attacks

Shadowy Hamas Bombmaker Makes Appearance and Vows to Continue Attacks on Israel

A shadowy Hamas bombmaker who tops Israel's most-wanted list on Saturday issued his first videotaped statement since going into hiding more than a decade ago.
Mohammed Deif praised Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a victory for armed resistance, rejected calls for his group to disarm, and vowed to continue attacks on Israel until the Jewish state is erased from the map.
Deif, who has escaped three Israeli attempts to kill him, has been living underground since 1992. He is so shadowy that the most recent photograph of him is from the 1980s

Aide: Pope Was Aware of Crowd While Dying

John Paul II's Aide Says Pontiff Was Aware of Crowd in St. Peter's Square As He Was Dying

As he lay dying, Pope John Paul II was aware of the presence of the crowd in St. Peter's Square below his apartment window and calmly viewed death as a "passage from one room to another," his longtime secretary said in an interview broadcast Friday night.
"He heard everything. He heard the square, he heard the prayer, the presence of the young people. The Holy Father heard, because he was conscious right to the end, almost to the end, even the last day," Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz told private Italian Canale 5's TG5 news in an interview in Krakow, Poland, where he will be installed as archbishop on Saturday...

Elaborate hoax leaves Illinois student newspaper reeling

Kodee Kennings' story was pure gold.
For nearly two years, the motherless 8-year-old spoke and wrote movingly of her struggle to deal with her soldier father being shipped off to fight in Iraq, and Southern Illinois University's student newspaper chronicled her thoughts in its pages.
But there was no Kodee Kennings, and the elaborate hoax exposed Friday left The Daily Egyptian embarrassed.
"Certainly for us it's a sad day," said Eric Fidler, Daily Egyptian faculty adviser for the past year. "Some good can come from this, but it doesn't help our reputation. All we can do is be upfront with what happened and what we know."A 2004 SIU graduate who posed as Kodee's guardian says she and a former Daily Egyptian editor concocted the story to help his career. He denies that and says he was duped, too.A 10-year-old girl who posed as Kodee in public appearances and a man who pretended to be her father say they were unwitting participants in the scam and believed they were acting in a film.

Report: DNA confirms body is Emmett Till's

DNA testing has confirmed that the body buried in Emmett Till's grave is the 14-year-old who was slain in Mississippi a half-century ago, just as his mother and relatives have said these long years, the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger reported Thursday.The results come as Till's relatives plan to mark the 50th anniversary of the murder that galvanized the civil rights movement by laying a wreath at Till's grave on Sunday.Till's body was exhumed from a suburban Chicago cemetery on June 1 as one of the last tasks in a federal investigation of his death. The probe was renewed last year after a New York filmmaker suggested there were other participants in the murder who have never been charged.The Till case is one of several high-profile civil rights cases that have been reopened in recent years. It also helped spur a bill in Congress that would establish a "cold case" unit in the Justice Department to investigate old civil rights cases.......Since 1989, authorities in seven states have re-examined 29 killings from the civil rights era, leading to 27 arrests and 22 convictions. The most recent case was in Philadelphia, Miss., in June when a jury convicted Edgar Ray Killen, 80, of manslaughter for orchestrating the 1964 killings of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman.......Till was killed Aug. 28, 1955, several days after he whistled at a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, outside a store in Money, Miss., she operated with her husband, Roy.......CLICK TITLE FOR THE REST.

CYOUINCOURT007: ON MY BIRTHDAY......AUGUST 28.......I WILL BE LIGHTING A CANDLE IN MEMORY OF EMMETT TILL .......I ASK THAT YOU DO THE SAME AND USE THAT DAY TO LOOK INTO OUR PAST AND LEARN FROM IT .....SO THAT HISTORY MAY NOT REPEAT ITSELF......FOR HIS SAKE AND FOR THOSE WHO DIED IN LYNCHINGS,HANGINGS AND THE LIKE WHO'S NAMES WE WILL NEVER KNOW..........WE HAVE COME A LONG WAY FROM THOSE DAYS BUT WE STILL HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO.

PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST?

Abbas Urges Militants to Hold Their Fire
Mahmoud Abbas Denounces Israeli Raid That Killed 5 Palestinians, Urges Militants to Hold Fire
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday denounced a deadly Israeli arrest raid that killed five Palestinians, calling it an intentional provocation aimed at undermining a six-month cease-fire, but he urged militant groups to hold their fire.Militants vowed to renew attacks on Israel, a move that would undercut the good will that resulted from an Israeli pullout from 25 Jewish settlements in Gaza and part of the West Bank.Following Tuesday's completion of the most important stage of the pullout evacuating settlers violence flared in three places.... LINK

Israeli pullout may be prelude to the big battle
While Israel's pullout from 25 settlements in Gaza and the West Bank took little more than a week, lasting peace with Palestinians still appears to be a long way off."Everybody understands that this (withdrawal) is the prelude to the big battle" over claims to land still passionately in dispute, Hebrew University political scientist Reuven Hazan says.
The battle may have already begun. Less than 48 hours after Israeli troops evacuated 15,000 settlers and activists from Gaza and four West Bank settlements — territory Israel is ceding for what could be part of a future Palestinian state — violence erupted in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Israeli troops killed five suspected Palestinian terrorists during a raid in the Tulkarem refugee camp overnight Wednesday. A Palestinian stabbed to death a British ultra-Orthodox Jewish student and injured his American classmate in the first attack in Jerusalem's Old City in three years.
The violence underscores the intractable dispute to come: How will the West Bank be carved up and what will become of Jerusalem, a holy city to both sides?
Even after Israel hands over Gaza some time in October, 230,000 Israelis will remain among 2.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank. They live in more than 220 settlements and unauthorized outposts strategically placed across the West Bank's terraced hills, as well as in three major settlement blocs that Israel says it will never give up. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said a Gaza-type withdrawal would not be repeated in the West Bank and peace negotiations would begin only after Palestinians disarm militant groups.Sharon may close a few outposts his government considers illegal, former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk says, but he will continue to send Israelis to West Bank settlements despite U.S. warnings to halt construction there. Some of those settlers came from Gaza. LINK

Italian Red Cross admits Iraq hostage deal

Italian Red Cross workers smuggled four wounded Iraqi insurgents through US roadblocks as part of a deal to free two aid workers kidnapped in Baghdad, it emerged yesterday.
Maurizio Scelli, outgoing head of the Italian Red Cross, said they hid "four alleged terrorists" under blankets and boxes of medicines in a jeep and an ambulance so they could be treated for injuries sustained in combat.
Three of the four had surgery.
Mr Scelli's revelation about the release of the aid workers Simona Pari and Simona Torretta sparked an embarrassing political row for the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who has always denied bowing to ransom demands in Iraq.
The senior Red Cross official said the Italian government had no direct involvement in the plan but had been told about it.
The deal included an undertaking to treat ill Iraqi children and was kept secret from US officials, he said.
Mr Scelli also revealed yesterday that Nicola Calipari, the Italian intelligence agent shot dead in March by US troops at a Baghdad checkpoint during the release of another Italian hostage, the journalist Giuliana Sgrena, was involved in the deal.Mr Scelli said he had consulted Calipari, who had agreed that no one should know of the rescue.Mr Scelli told La Stampa: "Keeping the Americans in the dark about our efforts to free the hostages was a non-negotiable condition to guarantee the safety of the hostages and ourselves."

CYOUINCOURT007: YOU RAT BASTARD SONS OF BITCHES.....HOW DARE YOU............ALL NATIONS WHO AID,ABBET,HARBOR,.....ETC TERRORISTS SHOULD BE NUKED BACK INTO THE STONEAGE INCLUDING YOU DIRTY ASSCLOWNS...........AND THEN THE LIES TO SAY WE INTENTIONALLY SHOT AT THEIR VEHICLE WHO WAS PLOWING THROUGH ONE OF OUR CHECKPOINTS.........WE KNOW WHO'S GOT OUR BACK AND WHO IS STABBING US IN THE BACK.............GIVING INTO THE DEMANDS OF TERRORISTS AND THOSE CHOPPING OFF HEADS ONLY EMBOLDENS THEM TO DO MORE OF THE SAME.......HOW DARE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Powerful Typhoon Mawar brushes Japan

Storm kills 1, disrupts shipping, air traffic

TOKYO - A powerful Pacific storm disrupted air and rail traffic as it slammed Japan with heavy winds and rains Friday, killing one person and injuring two others, authorities said.
Typhoon Mawar drenched Japan’s capital before being downgraded to a still dangerous tropical storm, with winds of 67 mph, according to Japan’s Meteorological Agency. Mawar was expected to sweep out to the Pacific Ocean later in the day.A 55-year-old man in Shizuoka state died late Thursday after slipping off the roof of his home, police said. Two other people were injured in storm-related accidents.

Ecuador oil protesters sign deal

QUITO, Ecuador:Ecuador protesters, whose attacks shut down oil exports vital to the country's economy, have struck a deal with energy companies in which the firms agreed to invest more in the poor communities where they operate.
The protesters agreed to call a permanent end to attacks they launched last week on oil wells in eastern Ecuador in return for the increased support, said mediator Ramiro Gonzalez, prefect of Pichincha province.
Negotiations had been bogged down since Wednesday over a demand by the militants they not be prosecuted for dynamiting pipelines and vandalizing pumping equipment last week.
The final settlement document did not address the issue of immunity other than to say the protesters, the government and the private oil firms would maintain a "good neighbor" relationship.

Fire kills 17 in Paris building housing immigrants

PARIS:A fire tore through a six-storey Paris apartment block housing African immigrants on Friday, killing 17 people -- about half of them children, French officials said.They said the blaze broke out in the stairwell of the traditional Parisian apartment building just after midnight when most residents would have been sleeping. It was brought under control two hours later but the cause was not immediately known.
"I heard children cry, families scream. Some children were yelling for their mothers and fathers," Oumar Cisse told reporters after he was evacuated from the building.About 30 people were injured in the blaze in southern Paris.
A little boy in pyjamas, who seemed to be of African origin, clutched a toy animal as he was led away from the building by emergency officials. A number of men and women, some carrying children in their arms, were also evacuated.
Police said some 30 adults and 100 children had lived in the apartment block, many of them from African countries such as Mali. Most of the casualties were immigrants.

Internal Report Said to Fault C.I.A. for Pre-9/11 Actions

A long-awaited C.I.A. inspector general's report on the agency's performance before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks includes detailed criticism of more than a dozen former and current agency officials, aiming its sharpest language at George J. Tenet, the former director, according to a former intelligence officer who was briefed on the findings and another government official who has seen the report.Mr. Tenet is censured for failing to develop and carry out a strategic plan to take on Al Qaeda in the years before 2001, even after he wrote in a 1998 memo to intelligence agencies that "we are at war" with it, they said, speaking about the highly classified report on condition of anonymity.
The report was delivered to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees on Tuesday by Porter J. Goss, the current C.I.A. director. Its preparation and previous drafts have provoked strong emotions at the beleaguered agency, which has borne the brunt of public criticism in a series of major studies of intelligence failures.
The inspector general, John L. Helgerson, intends to send Congress additional materials, including a compilation of responses from Mr. Tenet and about two dozen other officials, the officials said.
The report describes systemic problems at the agency before 2001, the officials said. In addition to criticizing Mr. Tenet; James L. Pavitt, the former deputy director of operations; and J. Cofer Black, the former director of the agency's Counterterrorist Center, it offers praise for some specific actions taken by them and other officials, they said.
The findings place Mr. Goss in a delicate position. As chairman of the House Intelligence Committee in the years before the attacks, he influenced intelligence policies and monitored intelligence agencies. As a leader of the joint Congressional inquiry into the attacks, he joined in requesting the inspector general's inquiry nearly three years ago.Now, as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, he will have to decide whether to take disciplinary action against any of those criticized, risking a further blow to the morale of an agency still charged with protecting the country against future terrorist attacks. The report recommends that Mr. Goss convene "accountability boards" to recommend personnel actions against those faulted in the report, who are identified by title rather than by name. Officials said the only action possible against Mr. Tenet and other officials who have retired would probably be to send them a letter of reprimand.........

HURRICANE KATRINA UPDATE

THE POWER JUST CAME BACK ON.....I LOOKED AT THE FRONT OF OUR HOUSE AND THE STREETS LOOK LIKE CANALS......IN THE BACKYARD, A HUGE OAK TREE IS DOWN AND COVERING THE POOL........THE SITUATION REMAINS DANGEROUS DUE TO DOWNED POWERLINES,FLASH FLOODS AND FALLING TREES......I HAVE HEARD OF AT LEAST 2 DEATHS AND HOPE EVERYONE ELSE STAYS INDOORS UNTIL DAYLIGHT AND THE ALL CLEAR IS GIVEN........CYOUINCOURT007

MIAMI,FLORIDA-Hurricane Katrina hammered Florida's crowded southeast coast with hours of buffeting winds and whipping rains, pitching 2 million people into darkness as power lines came down and killing two.The storm, which was supposed to be a minimal hurricane but nevertheless delivered a fierce punch, weakened slightly over the swampy Everglades on Friday, but in its wake it left flooded neighborhoods and streets carpeted with tree limbs and leaves.
Katrina dumped up to 12 inches of rain after coming ashore just south of Fort Lauderdale and then began a slow and punishing trek southwest across southern Florida, said the U.S.
National Hurricane Center National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Two men were killed in Fort Lauderdale and the city of Plantation to the west by falling trees, said Broward County public information officer Dennis Myers. WFOR television said the first man died when the tree brought a power line down onto his car.
"This is going to be a long night for Miami-Dade and Broward counties," hurricane center director Max Mayfield told CNN.CLICK TITLE FOR THE LINK.................

Report: Chinese Web sites used to target U.S. systems

Web sites in China are being used as a staging ground for attacks on computer networks in the U.S. Defense Department and other agencies, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.

The newspaper said no classified systems have been compromised but officials were concerned that data pulled together from different agencies could become useful intelligence to an adversary.
The newspaper cited four government officials who spoke separately about the intrusions, which were said to go back two or three years. It said the FBI had launched an investigation.
"It's not just the Defense Department but a wide variety of networks that have been hit," including the departments of State, Energy, and Homeland Security as well as defense contractors, one official was quoted as saying.
"This is an ongoing, organized attempt to siphon off information from our unclassified systems." the official said....

Pro-war kin take down crosses at Sheehan site

Military families disturbed by a sea of crosses erected by anti-war protesters near President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, have removed crosses bearing the names of their fallen children and transferred them to another site to show support for American troops in Iraq. Anti-war protesters "never asked for my permission to put up a cross for my son for their cause," said Gary Qualls, whose son was killed in Iraq. "They are not respecting our sons and daughters." The rival cross camps are evidence of a growing public backlash against the anti-war campaign of California activist Cindy Sheehan, who blames Mr. Bush for son Casey's death in Iraq and has called for immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan. Gregg Garvey's son, Army Sgt. Justin Garvey, 23, was killed in Iraq in July 2003. On Tuesday, Mr. Garvey of Keystone Heights, Fla., removed two crosses bearing the name of his son that were posted at the Sheehan demonstration site -- dubbed "Camp Casey" -- outside the Bush ranch. "I also picked up crosses of two colleagues [of his son], after their parents gave me permission to remove their crosses as well," Mr. Garvey said yesterday........

Gas busting budgets across USA

Soaring gas prices are slamming cities, school districts and sheriff's departments across the USA, forcing local governments to scrimp, save and borrow to pay the price at the pump.

School buses, snowplows and squad cars, which burn millions of gallons of gas a year, can burn million-dollar holes in budgets.
"It's really wreaking havoc," says Jeff Esser, CEO of the Government Finance Officers Association. "They really have two choices: Raise taxes or cut back on other programs or services. That's it."

• In Boston, school buses ferry 33,000 students from home to classroom every day. Last year, the city budgeted $1.9 million to fuel its buses. The actual cost: $2.8 million.
This year, officials increased the budget to $3.4 million and are keeping their fingers crossed........

Race Disparity Seen During Traffic Stops

Study: Blacks, Hispanics More Likely Than Whites to Be Searched, Arrested During Traffic Stops

Black, Hispanic and white motorists are equally likely to be pulled over by police, but blacks and Hispanics are much more likely to be searched, handcuffed, arrested and subjected to force or the threat of it, a Justice Department study has found.
The study, by the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics, was completed last April and posted on the agency's Web site after Bush administration officials disagreed over whether a press release should mention the racial disparities.
Traffic stops have become a politically volatile issue as minority groups have complained that many stops and searches are based on race rather than on legitimate suspicions......

JFK Tape Recording Declassified

Tape: JFK Advisers Warned Nukes Might Be Necessary to Enforce India Security Guarantee

Top advisers to President John F. Kennedy warned him in 1963 that if he pledged to defend India against any attack by China, the United States would likely have to use nuclear weapons to enforce the commitment, according to a newly declassified tape recording.
George Ball, undersecretary of state in the Democratic administration, also warned in what today would be considered insensitive language that a nuclear response could subject the United States to charges of racism following the two atomic bombings of Japan that ended World War II.
"If there is a general appearance of a shift in strategy to the dependence on a nuclear defense against the Chinese in the Far East, we are going to inject into this whole world opinion the old bugaboo of being willing to use nuclear weapons against Asians when we are talking about a different kind of strategy in Europe," Ball told the president during a May 9, 1963, national security meeting in the White House. "This is going to create great problems with the Japanese with all the yellow people."

2 authors of fetal-pain paper accused of bias

A medical student who has worked for an abortion rights group and the director of a clinic that provides abortions were among authors of a report on the highly charged issue of fetal pain published Wednesday.
The report, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, concluded that fetuses probably don't feel pain until around the seventh month of pregnancy. It drew immediate criticism from anti-abortion activists and other researchers. One of them, Kanwaljeet Anand of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, predicted that it would "inflame a lot of scientists who are ... far more knowledgeable in this area than the authors appear to be." ....

Tropical Storm Katrina

Broward,Dade and West Palm Beach Counties are on alert ...Being prepared is essential......

Peruvian Plane Crashes, at Least 37 Die

Peruvian Plane Carrying 100 Crashes During Emergency Landing, Killing at Least 37, Injuring 40

A Peruvian airliner carrying 100 people crashed Tuesday near a jungle town while attempting an emergency landing, killing at least 37 people and injuring about 40, officials said.
The Boeing 737 went down near the Pucallpa municipal airport after the pilot radioed that he could not land because of strong winds and a torrential downpour, Norma Pasquel, a Pucallpa airport receptionist, told The Associated Press by phone.The plane circled the airport until trying to make the emergency landing. Officials and radio reports said the plane crashed near a highway, indicating the pilot might have been trying to land on the roadway.

Air Force Officer Faces Vandalism Charges

Air Force Reassigns Officer Accused of Vandalizing Pro-Bush Cars

An Air Force officer accused of vandalizing bumper stickers supporting President Bush has been reassigned to a non-supervisory position, a military spokesman said Tuesday.
Lt. Col. Alexis Fecteau faces criminal mischief charges for allegedly blacking out Bush bumper stickers on cars at Denver International Airport and then spray-painting an expletive over them.
Fecteau was reassigned on Aug. 10, said Col. Dave Cannon, a spokesman for the Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base. Fecteau had been director of operations for reserve forces at the National Security Space Institute at the base.Cannon declined to give any further details, citing privacy laws.
Fecteau's lawyer, Patrick Mulligan, said he was "a highly decorated colonel in the Air Force with 500 combat hours in the Gulf War, Kosovo and Bosnia. Any allegations have to be viewed in that context."

Jackson accuser's mother charged

The woman whose son accused Michael Jackson of child molestation was charged with welfare fraud Tuesday for allegedly collecting nearly $19,000 in payments while making false claims.
At Jackson's trial the woman invoked her Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and refused to testify about the welfare matter.
But Jackson's lawyers presented evidence that she and her family had received a $150,000 settlement in a 2001 lawsuit against a department store at a time when she was claiming to be poor. They also showed the woman was receiving money from her boyfriend to pay the rent on her apartment.
The complaint filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office alleged that the woman hid from authorities the fact that she had received the settlement and also failed to report the receipt of $637 for payment of her rent in January 2003.

Experts say rising gas prices spur thefts, violence

The death of an Alabama service station owner illustrates the point that a gasoline industry group makes over and over to its members: Losing money during a drive-off isn't worth losing your life.

Husain "Tony" Caddi, 54, died Friday after being run over by a driver who police believe wasn't going to pay for $52 worth of fuel. Police are searching for the driver of the gold or tan Jeep-style SUV.
With gasoline prices soaring, industry experts predict the number of driveoffs,and violence will increase.
"It's a very difficult situation, and you're never sure how people are going to react," said Sam Turner, president of Calfee Co. of Dalton, Ga., which operates 114 Favorite Markets convenience stores in the South.
"It's something on everybody's mind right now because it's a commodity that virtually everybody uses. You're talking about a heck of an impact to their billfold."

Designs in motion for new combat vehicles

When the Humvee replaced the jeep 20 years ago, the military wanted better basics: a strong engine and more capable off-road suspension.

Now, as the Pentagon speeds its search for a Humvee replacement, those basics along with better armor — still count. But the modern military, like American motorists, wants vehicles laden with electronics, air conditioning and other options now considered critical to battlefield performance.
Not only must the Humvee replacement better defend troops from bomb blasts, it must:
• Support built-in computers and Global Positioning System and communications gear, instead of the welded-on brackets and tangles of wires in Humvees......

For One Family, Front Row Seats to Border Crisis

COLUMBUS, N.M., Aug. 17 - If James Johnson were any closer to Mexico, he would be in it.
And if there is a front line in the border crisis stretching from California to Texas, it may be the 14 miles of wide open boundary that the Johnson clan shares with their Mexican counterparts to the south. As many as 500 immigrants a day use their ranch and farmland as a welcome mat, they say, with bandits and smuggling guides making some areas too dangerous to visit. Fences have been torn down, they say, crops pilfered and cattle watering tanks fouled with human waste.
Every day, just feet from their property, old school buses and vans with windows blacked out disgorge luggageless passengers who disappear into the derelict Mexican village of Las Chepas and re-emerge on distant hills sloping back down on the American side."There goes another busload," Mr. Johnson, 30, said as an approaching gray van boiled a cloud of dust on a Mexican gravel road almost within touching distance, then rolled out of sight. "They'll be passing my place tonight."...Often thought of as a federal or international concern, illegal immigration has reached such a pace along parts of the border that officials are now expressing fear for the people who live and work there. On Aug. 12, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, citing the kidnapping of three immigrants by bandits on the Johnsons' land, declared a disaster in four counties he described as "devastated by the ravages and terror of human smuggling, drug smuggling, kidnapping, murder, destruction of property and death of livestock." Several days later, Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona followed suit....

Televangelist Calls for Chavez' Death

Televangelist Pat Robertson Calls for Assassination of Venezuelan President

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson called on Monday for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him a "terrific danger" to the United States.
Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition of America and a former presidential candidate, said on "The 700 Club" it was the United States' duty to stop Chavez from making Venezuela a "launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism."
Chavez has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of President Bush, accusing the United States of conspiring to topple his government and possibly backing plots to assassinate him. U.S. officials have called the accusations ridiculous.

Scientists Speak Up on Mix of God and Science

At a recent scientific conference at City College of New York, a student in the audience rose to ask the panelists an unexpected question: "Can you be a good scientist and believe in God?"

Reaction from one of the panelists, all Nobel laureates, was quick and sharp. "No!" declared Herbert A. Hauptman, who shared the chemistry prize in 1985 for his work on the structure of crystals.
Belief in the supernatural, especially belief in God, is not only incompatible with good science, Dr. Hauptman declared, "this kind of belief is damaging to the well-being of the human race."
But disdain for religion is far from universal among scientists. And today, as religious groups challenge scientists in arenas as various as evolution in the classroom, AIDS prevention and stem cell research, scientists who embrace religion are beginning to speak out about their faith.
"It should not be a taboo subject, but frankly it often is in scientific circles," said Francis S. Collins, who directs the National Human Genome Research Institute and who speaks freely about his Christian faith.
Although they embrace religious faith, these scientists also embrace science as it has been defined for centuries. That is, they look to the natural world for explanations of what happens in the natural world and they recognize that scientific ideas must be provisional - capable of being overturned by evidence from experimentation and observation. This belief in science sets them apart from those who endorse creationism or its doctrinal cousin, intelligent design, both of which depend on the existence of a supernatural force.

Israeli forces prepare for West Bank standoff

SANUR, West Bank: Israeli forces massed on Tuesday outside a
West Bank settlement where ultra nationalist Jews dug in for a last stand against evacuation after failing to thwart a pullout from occupied Gaza.

Security officials feared violence by hundreds of young radicals, armed with iron rods and shields, who have barricaded themselves in a stone citadel and a nearby synagogue in Sanur, one of two neighboring enclaves to be uprooted.
As military vehicles approached, headlights beaming through the predawn darkness, youths hammered more barricades into place, using old furniture, car parts and other materials. They spilled oil on the road leading in from the front gate.

Powerful Blast Hits Beirut Shopping Center

Powerful Explosion Rocks North Beirut Shopping Center; No Immediate Reports of Casualties

A powerful explosion rocked a shopping center in the Zalka neighborhood in north Beirut late Monday, injuring at least two people and causing extensive damage, security officials said.
Residents reached by telephone said black smoke was billowing into the night sky near a hotel. Ambulances and fire engines were headed to the scene.
Zalka, on the Mediterranean coast, is a mixed residential and commercial area on a main street that leads to Lebanon's Christian heartland. The area has several cafes including a Starbucks coffee shop and restaurants and other nightspots that would have been full of patrons...

Suspect held in rocket attack on U.S. ship

AMMAN, Jordan: A Syrian linked to an Iraqi-based terrorist group has been arrested as the prime suspect in the rocket attack that barely missed U.S. warships docked in the port of Aqaba, the Jordanian government said Monday.
The government statement, read on state television, said the suspect, Mohammed Hassan Abdullah al-Sihly, plotted and carried out the attack along with two of his sons and an Iraqi.
The statement said the plotters were part of an Iraq based terrorist group, which was not named.Father, sons suspectedAl-Sihly, who lives in Amman, had been surveying sites for the attack in Aqaba since Aug. 6, the statement said. He was joined by his two sons ,Abdullah and Abdul-Rahman, and Mohammed Hamid Hussein, the Iraqi, in “carrying out the heinous crime,” in which three Katyusha rockets were fired from a hilltop warehouse situated on a hill above Aqaba.Hussein was the leader of the Iraq-based group, the announcement said.

N.Y. Water Park Illnesses Grow to 2,202

New York Assemblyman to Conduct Inquiry Into Water Playground Illnesses

A New York state assemblyman is launching an inquiry into the state-run water playground that may have spread more than 2,000 cases of gastrointestinal illnesses.
"All visitors to New York State Parks should be confident that they will have a healthy and safe experience," State Assemblyman Joseph Morelle said in a statement.The number of reported gastrointestinal illnesses possibly spread by the water playground at Seneca Lake Park has grown to 2,202 cases across 24 counties in western and central New York as of Monday.So far, 13 cases in four different counties have been confirmed as cryptosporidiosis, a common waterborne disease.Tests conducted by the Health Department have found the presence of cryptosporidium in two storage tanks that supply water for the spray park.The Health Department initially shut down the Sprayground temporarily last week after receiving more than 100 reported cases of illness dating back to early July.

Nigeria leader admits abuse, group says

Human Rights Watch urges follow-up action on police violations

LAGOS, Nigeria: An international human rights group said Monday that Nigeria's president had acknowledged Nigerian police often torture and kill criminal suspects and urged him to end such abuses.
President Olusegun Obasanjo made the surprising departure from usual official denials in a message to a police human rights forum in Nigeria last week in which he confirmed abuses, some of which were detailed in a report last month by New York-based Human Rights Watch."Obasanjo's recognition of human rights abuses by the police is an important first step," Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the African Division at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement."However addressing the problems of the police requires more than just lip service. It is essential that his words are followed by concrete steps to end police abuses," Takirambudde said.

Million Father March escorts children to school

Cities across the country are calling on a million fathers to take a little time out of their busy morning routine, get to work a little late if necessary, so they can walk hand in hand with their children to the schoolhouse doors on the first day. The Million Father March, a pro-family and fatherhood initiative created by the Chicago-based Black Star Project, a black family advocacy group, is entering its second year, with 100 cities participating -- up from 25 cities in 2004, said Phillip Jackson, the organization's executive director. The marches began in Atlanta on Aug. 8, the earliest first day of school in the country and will continue through Oct. 1. "This has already had national implications, and it will get stronger and stronger and stronger; everybody is looking for the magic bullet in education, and this is it,fatherhood support and involvement," Mr. Jackson said. "And there are other cities doing their own unrelated marches like one in St. Louis."

I cannot confirm nor deny the following...

(ANOTHER)War Is Not Far from Us and Is the Midwife of the Chinese Century

Leading CCP official argues for exterminating U.S. population

The following is a transcript of a speech believed to have been given by Mr. Chi Haotian, Minster of Defense and vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission. Independently verifying the authorship of the speech is not possible. It is worth reading because it is believed to set out the CCP’s strategy for the development of China. The speech argues for the necessity of China using biological warfare to depopulate the United States and prepare it for a future massive Chinese colonization.....Click title for transcript...

CYOUINCOURT007: This may not be "factual" but it sure seems "accurate"...who can deny the Chinese buildup,their plans to invade Taiwan...their recent General's threats of nuking us.....This is the second time in recent months I have heard of chinese plans on taking us over....some plans allegedly include what they plan on naming our cities......both stories seem far fetched but anywho........grain of salt alert.

Warning Issued for Terrorists Posing as Homeless

WASHINGTON: Asking for increased vigilance in the wake of the London bombings, the government is warning that terrorists maypose as vagrants to conduct surveillance of buildings and mass transit stations to plot future attacks."In light of the recent bombings in London, it is crucial that police, fire and emergency medical personnel take notice of theirsurroundings, and be aware of 'vagrants' who seem out of place or unfamiliar," said the message, distributed via e-mail to some federal employees in Washington by the U.S. Attorney's office.It is based on a State Department report that was issued last week. The State Department had no immediate comment Monday.The warning is similar to one issued by the FBI before July 4, 2004 that said terrorists may attempt surveillance disguised as homeless people, shoe shiners, street vendors or street sweepers.The e-mail stresses that there is no threat of an attack and that it is intended to be "informative, not alarming."Homeless people easily blend into urban landscapes, the message said....

Man dies trying to stop gas theft

FORT PAYNE, Alabama: A gas station owner was run over and killed when he tried to stop a driver from leaving without paying for $52 worth of gasoline, police said.
The driver had not been apprehended Sunday, and police Chief David Walker said the case was being investigated as a robbery-homicide.
Witnesses told police that Husain Caddi, owner of Fort Payne Texaco, "grabbed onto the vehicle" Friday when the driver began to drive off.
Caddi was dragged across the parking lot and onto a highway, where he fell to the pavement and was run over by the late model sport utility vehicle's rear wheel, Walker said.

A STOMACH MADE OF IRON BUT...

I'm the type of individual who can eat a peanutbutter n jelly sandwich while watching the best of faces of death.....I've seen people jump from 7 stories high and land like a stack of wood on the ground.....I've seen folks take a handgun and blow their faces off.....others that didn't die from the first shot had to shoot again and did......I have seen people take their last breaths before my eyes many a times.........I can observe or respond to many a tragedies without losing my lunch BUT when it comes to the things I am about to mention I want to go and upchuck everything I've ever eaten out of pure discust................
Katie Couric: I need a loan to gas up my minivan.....
I guess her $15 million a year just isn't enough to keep that minivan gased up.....What a sick twisted bitch.....for video click here
Debate Brews Over Use of Koran in Court
GREENSBORO, N.C. Traditionally, witnesses taking the stand in court are sworn in by placing their hand on the Bible
But when Muslims in Guilford County, N.C., tried to donate copies of the Koran for courtroom use, judges turned them down.Chief District Court Judge Joseph Turner says taking an oath on the Koran is not allowed by North Carolina state law, which specifies that witnesses shall place their hands on the “holy scriptures,” which he interprets as the Christian Bible.......
And the ACLU is involved in this too....but how could we expect anything different from them......they who defend and fight for those who wish to destroy out country our citizens and our way of life................ Link

Chuck Hagel compares Iraq to Vietnam........
Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, who received two Purple Hearts and other military honors for his service in Vietnam, reiterated his position that the United States needs to develop a strategy to leave Iraq. Hagel scoffed at the idea that U.S. troops could be in Iraq four years from now at levels above 100,000, a contingency for which the Pentagon is preparing."We should start figuring out how we get out of there," Hagel said on "This Week" on ABC. "But with this understanding, we cannot leave a vacuum that further destabilizes the Middle East. I think our involvement there has destabilized the Middle East. And the longer we stay there, I think the further destabilization will occur." Hagel said "stay the course" is not a policy. "By any standard, when you analyze 2 1/2 years in Iraq ... we're not winning," he said.Link

HOMELAND SECURITY KEEPING US SAFE FROM BABIES...
WASHINGTON - Infants have been stopped from boarding planes at airports throughout the U.S. because their names are the same as or similar to those of possible terrorists on the government's "no-fly list."...airlines still have the duty to check passengers' names against those supplied by the government. That job has become more difficult - since the 2001 attacks the lists have swelled from a dozen or so names to more than 100,000 names, according to people in the aviation industry who are familiar with the issue. They asked not to be identified by name because the exact number is restricted information.... Link

FACTS V FICTION ......JUST LIKE THE MSM CONVENIENTLY FAILED TO TELL YOU THAT SLIMY CINDY SHENNANIGAN HAD ALREADY MET BUSH AND HAD NOTHING BUT GOOD TO SAY ABOUT HIM, THERE ARE OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER.......

KATIE COURIC IS NOT WORTH ANOTHER MENTION SO SHE CAN GO TO HELL.....HOW DARE HER JOKE ABOUT SOMETHING THAT FOR MANY AMERICANS IS A REALITY BECOMING A NIGHTMARE......

THE KORAN IN COURTS.....F THAT.....I'M TIRED OF MUSLIMS AND ARABS WHO CAN GET UP AND BITCH ABOUT RACIAL PROFILING,HOW THEIR NOT GETTING THEIR FAIR SHAKE ETC......WHERE ARE YOU FOLKS WHEN TERRORISTS KILL OUR PEOPLE=SILENT AS ALWAYS EXCEPT FOR A FEW ASSCLOWNS MAKING THE ROUNDS ON THE TOONS...SO SCREW YOU....HOW NAIVE SOME PEOPLE CAN BE AMAZES ME....THE KORAN INSTRUCTS THAT ALL NON MUSLIMS ARE INFIDELS AND SHOULD BE SOUGHT OUT AND KILLED, END OF CONVERSATION............

HOMELAND SECURITY......SEARCHING BABIES AND WHEELCHAIR BOUND GRANNYS AS ABU,SHARIFF,MOHHAMED,AND THE REST STROLL BY.........WHAT A SHAM..........POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WILL BE THE END OF ALL OF US.....HECK EVEN BOOKS ARE NOW NUKING WORDS LIKE MANPOWER ETC CAUSE THEIR DEEMED SEXIST......SHEESH.

AND FINALLY IRAQ AND COMPARISONS TO VIETNAM......THERE ARE NONE YOU STUPID SOB ASSCLOWN RATBASTARDS......THANK YOU JCRUE FOR THESE FACTS.........

1,800+: At this point in our return to Iraq (25 million plus no longer suffering Saddam's rule)

2,403: Americans killed at Pearl Harbor

2,976: Americans lost on 9/11

9,386: American soldiers killed taking Normandy

12,500: American soldiers killed taking Okinawa in WW2

24,000: American soldiers on both sides killed at the battle of Antietam during the Civil War

54,246: American troops killed in Korea

58,198: American soldiers killed in Vietnam

116,516: American soldiers killed in World War 1

133,811: Confederate troops killed in the Civil War

295,000: American soldiers killed in World War 2

364,511: Union Soldiers killed during the Civil War

AND IN CONCLUSION....LET'S HEAR IT FROM SOMEONE WHO IS ACTUALLY THERE NOT YOU IDIOTS PENT UP IN A HOTEL SOMEWHERE...

LIAR/I MEAN LAUER "Now, don't get me wrong, I think you guys are probably telling me the truth about how well it's going to over here, but there might be a lot of people at home wondering how that could be possible, how could it possibly be going well here with the conditions you're facing and with the insurgent attacks that you're facing, so what would you say to those people who were doubtful that morale can be that high here?"

CAPTAIN SHERMAN POWELL: Well, sir, I tell you if I got my news from the newspapers also I'd be pretty depressed as well.

LAUER: What don't you think is being correctly portrayed? CAPTAIN SHERMAN POWELL: Sir, I know it's hard to get out and get on the ground and report the news, and I understand that, and I appreciate that fact, but for those of us who actually have a chance to go out and go on patrols and meet the Iraqi army and Iraqi police and go on patrols with them, we are very satisfied with the way things are going here, and we are confident that if we're allowed to finish the job we started, we'll be very proud of it, and our country will be proud of us for doing it.

FINALLY: ABLE DANGER ABLE DANGER.....WE KNOW WHICH ADMINISTRATION DROPPED THE BALL AND HOW THE WARREN/ I MEAN 911 COMMISSION(JAIME G) ALONG WITH SANDY BURGLAR WERE IN ON THE COVERUP.......ABLE DANGER ABLE DANGER ABLE DANGER

CYOUINCOURT007: THANK YOU FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER MADE THIS HERE POST POSSIBLE: YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE : ) AND I WONT FORGET IT : )

Transcript: Jeffrey Davis, son of Dolores Davis, BTK victim January 18th, 1991

May it please the Court to allow me to express my thoughts and feelings to all the victim survivors here among us today in the hope that we can leave this courtroom with some sense of peace and legal resolution.For the last 5,326 days I have wondered what it would be like to confront the walking cesspool that took my mother's precious life. Throughout that time I always envisioned this day as being one for avenging the past. I could think of nothing but savoring the bittersweet taste of revenge as justice is served upon this social sewage here before us today. Now that it has arrived, surprisingly, I realize that this day is not just about avenging past crimes.Sitting here before us is a depraved predator, a rabid animal that has murdered people, poisoned countless lives and terrorized this community for 30 years, all the while relishing every minute of it. As such, there can be no justice harsh enough or revenge bitter enough, in this world at least, to cause the pain and suffering which a societal malignancy like this has coming. Therefore, I have determined that for the sake of our innocent victims and their loving families and friends with us here today, for me this will be a day of celebration, not retribution. If my focus were hatred, I would stare you down and call you a demon from hell who defiles this court at the very sight of its cancerous presence. If I embraced bitterness I would remind you that you are nothing but a despicable, child murdering, cowardly, impotent eunuch and pervert masquerading as a human being. If I were the animal that you are I would say that I relish the thought of you being treated to the same despicable brutality, terror and agony at the hands of your soon to be fellow inmates that you relished inflicting on your defenseless victims.If I were spiteful I would remind you that it is only fitting that a twisted, narcissistic,psychopath, obsessed with public attention, will soon have his world reduced to an isolated solitary existence in an 80-square-foot cell doomed to languish away the rest of your miserable life, alone.If I had your devil nature, I would delight in the fact that your congregation has turned its back on you, that your friends have deserted you, that your wife has divorced you, that your own children have disowned you. And then I would remind you that you will never have any warm, loving human contact again for the remainder of your twisted existence.If I were cynical I would remind this Court that you would return to your murderous ways in a heartbeat if given the opportunity, so for the safety of society you must remain caged forever like any other vicious predatory animal. If I were to sink to your level I would say that this world would have been much better off had your mother aborted your demon soul before you were unleashed on this world, sparing ten innocent lives and avoiding untold heartache for this community.If I were vindictive I would wish you many long, emotionally-tortured years in your cage,haunted every night by your victims' hopeless pleas for mercy as you played God and pronouncedtheir death sentences upon them.If I had your sadistic nature I would delight in the pain you feel now in realizing that your own arrogance and ego got you caught;that if you had just kept your big mouth shut you would still be a free man today, able to eat pizza and walk your dog Dudley.If I wanted revenge I would pray that you develop a lingering illness from which you suffer for many, many years before you ultimately choke to death one lonely night on your own vomit.If I were judgmental I would call you the most despicable form of hypocrite for profaning Christianity by daring to associate yourself with my faith and for blaspheming God's house with your demonic actions. If I were unforgiving, I would tell you that I will accept any shameful, meaningless attempts on your part to feign remorse by responding that I will grant you forgiveness the same day that hell freezes over; although I know that my mother in her Christian grace has already long since forgiven you.But I won't hurl these invectives at you or I won't rain these curses down upon you because you're not smart enough to understand most of the words I would use anyway. And if you even if you could begin to fathom the depth of my hatred for you, I would still refuse to waste any breath on you because that would once again allow you the satisfaction of being in the limelight, and that attention I refuse to allow you. As of today, you no longer exist. Today, the focus finally moves out from under the shadow of your depraved shadow of Hell's darkness into the light of your victims and their families. Speaking for my mother,with us in spirit, for my own family, and I hope for the entire family of survivors here today,we dedicate this day to the memories of those who cannot be with us.Today we also celebrate with this community the relief in knowing that we will never again be terrorized by a monster's demented fantasies.Today, we will each silently remember a father, a brother, a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a grandmother; all those who we loved so deeply and miss so dearly still.Today, we will quietly reminisce on all that they meant to us.We will smile at all the silly things they did that made us laugh, and we will renew our pride in who they were. Today, we will thank them for shaping our lives, for being there when we needed them, for setting the example of what we should be, for making us who we are, and for allowing us to be their living legacies.From this point on, we declare our independence from the tyranny of your actions.While you begin your slow and painful descent into hell, we will choose to rise above our pain. While you sink into an emotional abyss of hopelessness and despair, we will channel our grief into positive endeavors, those life activities which would please the ones we have lost.While you agonize over the reality that your last victims were ironically your own family, we will embrace the new family we now have, with whom we will always share a common bond forged from the pain of adversity and loss.While your body wastes away in prison, we will renew ourselves by incorporating into our lives those characteristics modeled by our loved ones:humility, compassion, honor, integrity,kindness, selflessness and love; traits which your twisted, cancerous mind cannot comprehend,I realize. While your wretched soul awaits pronouncement of the one true justice, your damnation to hell for eternity, we will thank God for every day He gives us, realizing as only we can just how precious life really is.Finally, we want you to know that we who could so easily have succumbed to your quagmire of madness, will not give you that satisfaction.Your despicable actions will not defeat us.Our very lives will be testimony that good can triumph over even the most hideous form of evil and perversion. Just as your days are now over,ours are just beginning. In the final analysis you have to live with the cold reality that while all of us here will overcome your depravity, you have now lost everything and you will forever remain nothing. May that thought torment you for the rest of your tortured existence.Thank you, Your Honor.

How I Feel About Cindy and the rest of the bandwagon...

Sad but "True"
Letter From Bin Laden to the Sleepers
I especially want all agents who have successfully infiltrated USA colleges, public organizations, local neighborhoods, and American political groups to follow my instructions in this message.There is no way that we at al Qaeda can fight America's tremendous military power and hope to win. These infidels, under George W. Bush, have amassed more financial means to fight us than any other country. Therefore, we must spend our limited financial resources on political and terrorist strikes. Thanks to our friends in Iran and Syria, we can continue our terrorist strikes to drive these American devils out of the Middle East...
Americans are weak and easily fooled. During the Vietnam War, when our friends, the Viet Cong, thought that they had lost the battle in their Tet offensive, they were about to surrender. Then, they heard the American newsman, Walter Cronkite, announce on the CBS news that the USA had lost in this offensive, and they were amazed. Our friends simply decided to continue to fight, to hang in there, knowing that the American voters would become easily depressed and demand that their leaders bring home their troops and stop fighting. It worked; the Americans gave up.It was here that I, your mighty Osama bin Laden, learned how Americans could be manipulated to give up. Their leaders make decisions not for that which will benefit the greatness of their country but rather by voter polls that may determine who will be in power in any upcoming election. We have enough appeasers now in political office to help us. Our public relations campaign for "political correctness" has worked well. We have these American puppets afraid of offending anyone.....Our prolonging the war in Iraq by attacking both the Iraqi citizens and the American troops via terrorist bombs and booby traps is working. The Iraqis are fearful, as they watch the American protestors strut and shout on American and al-Jazeera TV, that the American weaklings will leave them to suffer by getting their poll-watching politicos to withdraw all troops!...
I urge you to get more Americans, especially mothers of dead or wounded soldiers to demand to see the president(MSM fails to tell you she already did before) and to plead with television audiences to stop this "unnecessary" war. One mother's weeping face on American television can do more than twenty suicide bombers to drive the infidels from the Middle East!Even though we have Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, and Brit Hume against us, we still have the power of the vast media giants, including the New York or LA Times and its columnists, the network newscasts and their Sunday News shows all apologizing for us or presenting our victories or political views. How can we lose?
CLICK TITLE FOR ENTIRE PIECE...
VIA NY GIRL

I Fess Up To Craving The Sweets....

Craving the cookie

The brain is wired to love sweets, but are they addictive? America's iconic cookie captures the nation's burgeoning dietary dilemma.

CHAPTER 1

The Oreo seems so innocent, two dark chocolate wafers held together by a dab of sweet, white filling. It is an icon of Americana, a throwback to the days of cookies, milk and childhood.Churned out in ovens the size of football fields, the Oreo reigns as the best-selling cookie in the world and a signature snack of Kraft Foods Inc.In recent years, though, the treat has become a symbol of another sort. To some it is a nutritional time bomb, emblematic of the junk food fueling America's obesity crisis, particularly among children. It is the kind of sugary snack that research suggests can trigger the same brain impulses as addictive narcotics.The Oreo, of course, is only one of the many indulgent treats that now make up nearly a quarter of the calories American children consume. It didn't create America's dangerously expanding waistline, nor did Kraft. M&Ms, Doritos, Coke--all play a role in this national gorge that threatens to undermine life expectancy......

Crippling Gaza checkpoint to go in settlers' wake

ABU HOLY CHECKPOINT, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Tawfiq al-Balawi stretched out on a blanket laid in the road beside his truck and propped his head up to sip tea, killing time until Israel soldiers reopened the main checkpoint in central Gaza. Palestinians like al-Balawi hope that years of delays at the Abu Holy Checkpoint on Gaza's main north-south road will soon end with Israel carrying out its promised evacuation of Jewish settlers from the occupied territory.
The checkpoint, close to an overpass used by settlers traveling between their nearby bloc of enclaves and Israel, was established to minimise the threat of Palestinian militant attacks on Israeli traffic.Whenever soldiers have shut Abu Holy or reduced Palestinian traffic there to an exhaustively inspected crawl following an attack or security alert, the narrow Gaza Strip has been split in two with ruinous consequences for local trade and travel.

Family Says Coretta Scott King Improving

Family at Vigil: Coretta Scott King Continuing to Improve, Days After Suffering Stroke

Coretta Scott King is slowly recovering from a stroke that had left her unable to walk and barely able to speak, and she has been singing with a speech therapist, her daughter said Sunday.
"It's not in the soprano voice that she has," Bernice King said of her mother, a trained classical singer. "But it's in a voice that's good to hear."
Doctors say the 78-year-old widow of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. suffered a stroke Tuesday that left her weakened on the right side of her body and mostly unable to speak...