Santa Barbara Beacon

McCain's wife sells Sudan-related investments

2008-05-14T15:07:00.000-07:00

What the hell is wrong with Cindy McCain? How does she manage to have Sudan-related investments in her portfolio? John McSame's trophy-wife (and billionaire brewing heiress) is investing her money in the corrupt genocidal government of the Sudan. Never mind that there's widespread ethnic-cleansing going on. It can easily be overlooked when you're investing in newly-discovered Sudanese oil reserves...
In other news
WASHINGTON - Cindy McCain, whose husband has been a critic of the violence in Sudan, sold off more than $2 million in mutual funds whose holdings include companies that do business in the African nation.

The sale on Wednesday came after The Associated Press questioned the investments in light of calls by John McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, for international financial sanctions against the Sudanese leadership.

According to McCain's personal financial disclosure, Cindy McCain's investments include two mutual funds — American Funds Europacific Growth fund and American Funds Capital World Growth and Income fund — that are listed by the Sudan Divestment Task Force as targets for divestment.

"Those have been sold as of today," said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers.

Both funds have holdings in Oil & Natural Gas Corp., an India-based company that does business in Sudan. The American Funds Capital World Growth & Income Fund also has holdings in Petrochina, a Chinese government-owned oil company with vast investments in Sudan.

Last year, in a speech on energy policy to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, McCain cited China's investments in Sudan as an example of regimes that survive off free-flowing petro dollars.

"The politics of oil impede the global progress of our values, and restrains governments from acting on the most basic impulses of human decency," he said. "There is only one reason China has opposed sanctions to pressure Sudan to stop the killing in Darfur: China needs Sudan's oil."

On Wednesday, Rogers said: "Senator and Mrs. McCain remain committed to doing everything possible to end the genocide in Darfur."

For the McCains, the Sudan-related investments are among scores of different investments listed in his financial disclosure documents. Cindy McCain is heiress to a Phoenix-based beer distributing company whose fortune is in the $100 million range.

Sen. McCain is regularly ranked among the richest lawmakers in Congress, but under the terms of a prenuptial agreement, much of the family's assets are in Cindy McCain's name. While the disclosure reports provide the identity of income and assets held by candidates and their spouses, they only offer a range of the amount of the holding. Indeed, the report lists Cindy McCain's investments in the two mutual funds as simply "over $1,000,0000."

In tax returns he released last month, the Arizona senator reported a total income of $405,409 in 2007.

But Cindy McCain files separate tax returns which she has not made public. Last week, she said she would never make her returns public even if her husband becomes president.

Later Wednesday, the Democratic National Committee reiterated its call for Cindy McCain to release her tax returns. "The fact the McCain family was holding Sudan-related investments even as John McCain was out on the campaign trail calling for sanctions is a reminder of why the American people expect and deserve full disclosure from their elected officials," said DNC spokesman Damien LaVera.

The Sudan-related investments illustrate the hazards for wealthy candidates whose vast holdings undergo thorough scrutiny during a presidential campaign.

In 2006, Brownback was among members of Congress who wrote 44 governors to urge them to divest their employee pension funds from businesses linked to Sudan. He is now serving as a top adviser to McCain's campaign. JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer -

Force Xbox Live to permanently BAN laggers

2008-03-08T23:21:00.000-08:00

Click here to sign the petition!

A clanmate of mine (and Chairman of Gamers United, a non-profit for professional gamers) just started an online petition on Xbox Live to force XBL and Microsoft to permanently ban laggers, server crashers, server droppers, glitchers and assorted cheaters. I play a lot of COD 4 (Call of Duty 4), BF2MC (Battlefield 2), Frontlines: Fuel of War and Halo 3 and I'm amazed how Xbox Live just turn a blind eye to these idiots who drop servers and ruin the game for dedicated gamers.

The Xbox 360 console is a piece of crap as it is (Three Rings of Death) so you'd think Xbox would ban these losers to keep their market share. But no. Despite thousands of filed complaints, Xbox Live has done NOTHING. These same laggers are out there every night crashing servers.

Getting laggers banned permanently seems like a good idea to me. Gamers like 'AerospaceSolid' and 'Icki Icki Rip' won't be around much longer. Non-profit "Gamers United" have agreed to deliver the petition to Xbox personally. The editors of the top gaming sites (IGN, Gamespot, Gamefly, TeamXbox) have taken an interest. Sounds like Xbox are in for even more bad publicity!

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Here's the petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/xboxlag/

To: Xbox Live users

Fellow Gamers,

This online petition is dedicated to FORCING Xbox Live to ban cheaters who repeatedly crash XBL game servers. Xbox Live have done absolutely nothing to stop laggers from crashing Battlefield servers, despite thousands of filed complaints. It is now time to put the pressure on Microsoft and Xbox Live to address these serious concerns.

Lagging out servers not only ruins the game but it severely damages Xbox Live's reputation and credibility within the gaming community. For millions of us, gaming is a hobby and a passion. It is being ruined by laggers/cheaters and by Xbox Live who refuse to seriously address this issue. Let Xbox Live know that you are sick of cheaters like "Aerospace Solid", "Icki Icki Rip" and "ColdWarVett" ruining gaming.

Sign this petition and it will be delivered to Xbox Live, Microsoft and the media (IGN, Gamespot, Gamespy, CNet etc.)

2008-03-06T11:50:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day Massacre at NIU Seven dead, Cryptic messages found

2008-02-15T08:52:00.000-08:00

The graduate student who massacred students in Northern Illinois University lecture hall bought three of his four guns on Saturday - indicating that he had been planning his assault for at least six days.

University sources identfied the gunman as Steve Kazmierczak, 27, a onetime undergraduate and award winning sociology graduate student at NIU. Fresh details about the latest campus carnage emerged as a seventh student died this morning from gunshot wounds suffered when the gunman opened fire Thursday afternoon at NIU in DeKalb, Illinois.

The bloodbath claimed a total of seven lives, including the gunman who also shot himself, and another 16 wounded.

Kazmierczak, dressed in black, was armed with three handguns and a shotgun as students took cover beneath desks and ran out of the lecture hall. He was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. At least 53 rounds were fired, police said.

In all, there were 23 casualties in the shooting, including the gunman. Several of the victims were taken to hospitals, where three later died. Four others, including the shooter, died at the scene of the gunfire. Peters said no note was found and no motive is yet known. However, last week a threat was scrawled on a NIU bathroom wall possibly predicting the attack:

“FEbruARy 7 has ended: 2-?-08 IT WILL HAPPEN”
(the FE and AR in February were underlined) *FEAR*

Last month graffiti was found on a restroom wall warning of a possible shooting. A spokesman said that the warning, which was discovered December 10, made reference to the Virginia Tech massacre, which killed 32 people at Virginia Tech. An unknown person posted the graffiti in the Grant Towers D residence hall. The graffiti included a racial slur and the notation, “What time? The VA tech shooter messed up w/ having only one shooter".

Law enforcement authorities told ABC News that Kazmierczak, bought most of his arsenal -- a 12 gauge shotgun, .22 pistol and a .9 mm pistol -- at a gun store in Champaign, Ill., on Saturday, indicating that he had planned the assault on the school for at least five days. A .45 Glock semi-automatic handgun was also found on the scene and linked to him.

Kazmierczak had no history of mental illness and no history of arrests, which would have allowed him to qualify to buy the guns under the state's gun laws, sources said.

By all accounts Kazmierczak was a good student. Serving as a member of the NIU Academic Criminal Justice Assocation, and a teaching aid as an undergraduate. In 2006 he recieved a Dean's Award from the sociology department.

Kazmierczak's father Robert lives in Lakeland Fl. and his mother died in Sept. 2006.

The shooting occurred during an introductory geology class at the university's Cole Hall in the campus center around 3:15 p.m. About 163 students were registered for the class.

"The assailant began firing into the assembled class from the stage — from the front," Peters said. Peters described the incident as a "very brief rapid-fire assault that ended with the gunman taking his own life."

An eyewitness told ABC News that the shooter was a white male, about 5'9", wearing a black beanie and a black coat. The shooter was carrying an ebony shotgun. He came in through the teacher's podium area and opened fire on 100 to 120 people who were attending the class.

NIU Police Chief Donald Grady said there was "no apparent motive at this time" for the shooting and it appeared the gunman had acted alone.

DeKalb County Coroner Dennis J. Miller on Friday released the identities of the four victims who died in his county: Daniel Parmenter, 20, of Westchester; Catalina Garcia, 20, of Cicero; Ryanne Mace, 19, of Carpentersville; and Julianna Gehant, 32, of Meridan.

External Links:

Legal Name: Steven Phillip Kazmierczak

E-mail: skazmierczak@gmail.com

Alpha Kappa Delta – Sociology Honor Society (Northern Illinois University)

“Self-Injury in Correctional Settings” by Steve Kazmierczak

His LiveJournal page (still active)

Wikipedia Entry on Steve Kazmierczak:

Stephen Phillip "Steve" Kazmierczak (1980 - February 14, 2008) was the perpetrator of the Northern Illinois University shooting. He graduated from the university in 2006, and had been enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since the spring of 2007. He was 27 when he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after killing five and wounding sixteen other people.

Early life and education

A native of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, Kazmierczak attended Elk Grove High School where he graduated from in 1998. He later went on to attend Northern Illinois University where he was a student of Sociology until transferring to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was on the dean's list.

He was a current graduate student of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He had received the Dean's award from NIU in 2006 and was considered a stand-out, well received student. Campus police describe him as a "fairly normal" and "unstressed person." He is a co-author of the academic paper referenced in the Tribune article, "Self-Injury In Correctional Settings: "Pathology" of Prisons or of Prisoners?"

Kazmierczak was a graduate student at the School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; he was Vice-President of the NIU Academic Criminal Justice Association in 2005 and had written on the U.S. correctional system, specifically prisons.

The Shooting

Kazmierczak's behavior seemed to become more erratic in the weeks leading up to the shooting, and it is believed he stopped taking medication beforehand.

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(AP Photo) An apparent shooting victim is treated for injuries on the Northern Illinois University campus Thursday afternoon Feb. 14, 2008.

Study: Bush, officials made 935 false statements about Iraq

2008-01-22T23:40:00.000-08:00

(AP) WASHINGTON - A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."

The study was posted Tuesday on the Web site of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel did not comment on the merits of the study Tuesday night but reiterated the administration's position that the world community viewed Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, as a threat.

"The actions taken in 2003 were based on the collective judgment of intelligence agencies around the world," Stanzel said.

The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both.

"It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al-Qaida," according to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff members, writing an overview of the study. "In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003."

Named in the study along with Bush were top officials of the administration during the period studied: Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan.

Bush led with 259 false statements, 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 28 about Iraq's links to al-Qaida, the study found. That was second only to Powell's 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and al-Qaida.

The center said the study was based on a database created with public statements over the two years beginning on Sept. 11, 2001, and information from more than 25 government reports, books, articles, speeches and interviews.

"The cumulative effect of these false statements — amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts — was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war," the study concluded.

"Some journalists — indeed, even some entire news organizations — have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical. These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, 'independent' validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq," it said.

Rudy Giuliani - Examining the record

2007-11-15T00:43:00.000-08:00

As Rudy Giuliani will most likely be the Republican party's nominee for the 2008 General Election, it is only fair to examine his record as Mayor of New York. Giuliani harps on his role on 9/11 and touts his international experience, but upon closer examination this rhetoric seems largely exaggerated and flawed.

Perhaps what most critics find disturbing is the simple fact that his kids don't like him. Families often have disagreements but to have your children actively oppose your candidacy is disconcerting. That Giuliani's two ex-wives detest him is telling. Critics of Giuliani point out that the New York firefighters don't like him, the Ground Zero workers don't like him and most New Yorkers seem to have an unfavorable opinion of him. Perhaps New Yorkers recall how Rudy treated the homeless and minorities. Maybe they disliked his unwillingness to address corruption, police brutality, or the selling out of New York City to corporate interests.

Rudy Giuliani seems to have a legacy of consistently poor judgment, from his appointment of the mafia-connected New York Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik to his profound lack of understanding of national security issues (Giuliani missed all the Iraq Study Group meetings to give paid speeches). Giuliani certainly has name recognition but what he doesn't have is the sound judgment and practical experience needed to be the President of the United States.

Giuliani is running on his 9/11 record and his 9/11 record is laced with failures in preparedness and response. Putting the New York City Emergency Management Center in the World Trade Center complex was probably his biggest mistake. Terrorists bombed the World Trade Center in 1993 and vowed to return and destroy it. Giuliani was seen walking around New York City on 9/11 presumably because he didn't have a control center to go to. Giuliani has been criticized for ignoring the ongoing threat to New York City from Islamist terrorists in the years between the first and second attacks on the World Trade Center. Prior to 9/11, Giuliani reportedly never referred to the 1993 WTC bombing publicly except for a single reference in his inaugural address not referring to terrorism.

The 9/11 Commission noted in its report that lack of preparedness could have led to the deaths of first responders at the scene of the attacks. The Commission noted that the radios in use by the fire department were the same radios which had not worked following the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. Giuliani failed to provide the FDNY with radios that worked, which led to the deaths of 343 fire fighters inside the Twin Towers because they were unable to hear orders to evacuate. They remained in the towers as the towers collapsed. When Giuliani testified before the 9/11 Commission he said that the firefighters ignored the evacuation order.

Giuliani has been subject to increased criticism for downplaying the health effects of the air in lower Manhattan. He said, in the first month after the attacks, "The air quality is safe and acceptable." However, in the weeks after the attacks, the United States Geological Survey identified hundreds of asbestos hot spots of debris dust that remained on buildings. By the end of the month the USGS reported that the toxicity of the debris was akin to that of drain cleaner. Firefighters, police and their unions, have criticized Giuliani over the issue of protective equipment and illnesses after the attacks.

On August 9, 2007 Giuliani claimed "I was at Ground Zero as often, if not more, than most workers.... I was there working with them. I was exposed to exactly the same things they were exposed to. So in that sense, I'm one of them." This angered New York Fire and Police personnel. A New York Times study a week later found that he spent a total of 29 hours over three months at the site. This contrasted with recovery workers at the site who spent this much time at the site in two to three days.

Giuliani and his campaign staff have said that he has been a student of Islamic terrorism for 30 years. Amanda Ripley, writing for Time Magazine said, "This is an exaggeration." During his 1980s work as a federal prosecutor, he addressed white collar crime and the Mafia. He led no significant terrorism prosecutions that resulted in convictions. Ripley contrasted Giuliani's claim that "I have the most foreign policy experience" with the observation that Senator John McCain, the ranking member of the member of the Senate Armed Services Committee served 22 years as a Navy pilot and visited Iraq six times, and that Senator Joe Biden, current chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has served 32 years on that committee and has visited Iraq on seven occasions. Ripley noted that among the major presidential contenders, Giuliani, John Edwards and Fred Thompson, have not visited Iraq. Giuliani had published no academic paper, delivered any policy address, written any journal article, nor written any book on Islamic terrorism prior to September 11, 2001.

After being appointed to the Iraq Study Group in early 2006, Giuliani did not attend any meetings. Attendance of the May 2006 meeting would have given him a "master class on Iraq." Presenters at this meeting included General David Petraeus, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki. At this time, Giuliani was giving paid speeches. When asked by Group leader James Baker to make a choice—between attending meetings and resigning from the Group—Giuliani chose to quit in May, 2006, citing "previous time commitments." In June 2007, Newsday reported that the commitments consisted largely of speaking engagements that were part of a tour in which Giuliani earned $11.4 million in 14 months. The article noted, "By giving up his seat on the panel, Giuliani has opened himself up to charges that he chose private-sector paydays and politics over unpaid service on a critical issue facing the nation."

Giuliani showed consistently poor judgment in promoting the career of Bernard Kerik, who started out as a New York Police Department detective driving for his campaign, then became the city's police commissioner and a founder of Giuliani Partners. Giuliani then pushed President Bush to nominate Kerik to be secretary of Homeland Security, at which point multiple scandals derailed the nomination and Kerik's career. In March of 2007, The New York Times reported that Kerik was to be indicted for tax fraud, illegal eavesdropping and his mafia connections.

Forbes reported in November 2006 that Giuliani Partners also accepted fees from penny stock firms, made alliances that have gone nowhere and formed pacts with businesses and individuals that have come under scrutiny by regulators and law enforcement officers. For instance, Giuliani Capital Advisors accepted 1.6 million warrants from Lighting Science Group at 60 cents, a fee of $150,000 and a promise to raise cash. The company went bankrupt, losing $412,000 on sales of $137,000 in the first part of 2006. Another venture CamelBak, started out under Giuliani's consulting arrangement with $31 million in sales, but was run into the ground with various missteps, including having the disgraced Bernard Kerik sit on its board. Forbes said Giuliani's most controversial deal was throwing in with a 2004 project with Applied DNA Sciences. Its backer, Richard Langley Jr. had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and commercial bribery in another penny stock scam. Giuliani was accused of money laundering with Paul Singer.

Republican Party activists have voiced concern that Mayor Rudy Guiliani has engaged in crossdressing at various gala's and press related functions. A concern among conservatives about the propriety of this activity, especially for the party's standard-bearer.

Rudy Giuliani appearing at 'Inner Circle' dinner in 2000.

Cost of the Iraq War so far: $1.3 trillion

2007-11-13T17:48:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON - The economic cost of the war in Iraq is estimated to total $1.3 trillion — roughly double the amount the White House has requested thus far, according to a new report by Democrats on Congress' Joint Economic Committee.

For the Iraq war, total economic costs were estimated at $1.3 trillion for the period from 2002 to 2008. That would cost a family of four $16,500, the report said.

The report, released Tuesday, attempted to put a price tag on the conflict, including "hidden" costs such as interest payments on the money borrowed to pay for the wars, lost investment, the expense of long-term health care for injured veterans and the cost of oil market disruptions.

Future economic costs would be even greater. The report estimated that the Iraq war would cost $3.1 trillion between 2003 and 2017. Under that scenario, it would cost a family of four $46,400, the report said.

The report, from the committee's Democratic majority, was not vetted with Republican members. Democratic leaders in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., seized on the report to criticize Bush's war strategy.

The report comes as the House and Senate planned to vote this week on another effort by Democrats to set a deadline for withdrawing troops from Iraq as a condition for providing another $50 billion for the war.

Reid said the report "is another reminder of how President Bush's stubborn refusal to change course in Iraq and congressional Republicans' willingness to rubber stamp his failed strategy — has real consequences at home for all Americans."

Israel Klein, spokesman for the Joint Economic Committee, took issue with the White House's characterization of the panel's report.

"Instead of dealing with the substance of this report, the White House is once again trying to deflect attention away from the blistering costs of this war in Iraq," Klein said. "This report uses the nonpartisan CBO (Congressional Budget Office) budget estimates and was prepared by the JEC's professional economists using the same process this committee has always used, regardless of which party is in the majority."

Oil prices have surged since the start of the war, from about $37 a barrel to well over $90 a barrel in recent weeks, the report said. "Consistent disruptions from the war have affected oil prices," although the Iraq war is not responsible for all of the increase in oil prices, the report said.

Still, the report estimated that high oil prices have hit U.S. consumers in the pocket, transferring "approximately $124 billion from U.S. oil consumers to foreign (oil) producers" from 2003 to 2008, the report said.

High oil prices can slow overall economic growth if that chills spending and investment by consumers and businesses. At the same time, high oil prices can spread inflation throughout the economy if companies decide to boost the prices of many other goods and services.

Meanwhile, "the sum of interest paid on Iraq-related debt from 2003 to 2017 will total over $550 billion," the report said. The government has to make interest payments on the money it borrows to finance the national debt, which recently hit $9 trillion for the first time.

"What this report makes crystal clear," said Joint Economic Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., "is that the cost to our country in lives lost and dollars spent is tragically unacceptable." Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the panel's vice chair, said of the Iraq war: "By every measure, this war has cost Americans far too much."

Santa Barbara Metal Detecting club

2007-11-11T22:58:00.000-08:00

Santa Barbara Metal Detecting club

The 'Jena Six' - Why the controversy?

2007-09-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

-Editorial-

Jena Six - Why the controversy?

Let's start with some basic facts. The South is segregated. In the Deep South it's always been that way. Always has, always will. The government, the police, the schools, the media and the controversy surrounding the 'Jena Six' are never going to change the fact that the South is segregated. The media can delude itself all it wants but the reality is that civil rights activists and politicians are never going to change the South.

What went on in Jena is a microcosm of what goes on everyday in this country. The media pretend things like this only happen in Jena, but the reality is that it happens all the time throughout the United States. People from different socio-economic backgrounds and racial identities tend to stick together in groups. The simple fact is that, despite idealism, races segregate themselves. In Maryland, I went to racially diverse schools (50%black/50% black) and this was reality. Despite what idealists want us to believe, the cafeteria was predominantly segregated. White students sat together and separately black students sat together. And despite some crossover, for the most part, lines were drawn by race.

This so-called "prank" which involved a noose hanging from a tree was undoubtedly a racially provocative act. The kids who put the noose on the tree should be charged with a hate crime. The hanging of a noose from a tree is just as provocative as burning a cross in a black family's yard.

But all this outrage and controversy regarding the 'Jena Six' seems misguided. Our society is governed by the rule of law and in a civilized society you don't take the law into your own hands. Six black guys almost beat a white student to death was and now they're complaining about their rights? Why shouldn't they be charged with second degree attempted murder? The 'Jena Six' are simply a band of vigilantes operating outside the law. They are just as guilty of a hate crime as those who placed the noose in the tree. It is ironic that there is such a controversy over the trials of the Jena Six when they themselves are responsible for committing an act akin to lynch mob vigilantism.

No one is above the rule of law. If the District Attorney has acted improperly, the Federal government will intervene. But the fact remains that if you commit a hate crime, no matter what the cause, you should be given a fair trial and if found guilty, punished.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena_Six

Republican Senator Larry Craig sought gay sex in an airport men's room

2007-08-29T19:59:00.000-07:00

Larry - That's not a microphone!

Looks like Republican Senator Larry Craig is going with the Ted Haggard defense "I'm not gay, I just put penises in my mouth". Funny how these arrests keep happening to conservative Republicans. So much for practicing what you preach. Craig railed against gays, gay rights, gay marriage, and gays in the military but apparently he's okay with gays in his bathroom stall.

Now reports are surfacing that Senator Craig frequently had his nine-hole probed in the men's room at Union Station. Craig insisted today "I am not gay" but if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, Senator Craig would probably put it up his ass.

Evangelical leader Rev. Ted Haggard preached against the depravity of homosexuality only to be outed by a male prostitute who, on numerous occasions, had received fellatio from the good Reverend.

Don't be surprised if Senator Craig follows the 'Mark Foley Plan' by claiming he was just 'acting out'. Next up for Craig is a trip to Switzerland for a stay at the famed Koch-Schmoker Clinic to be cured of his homosexual tendencies.

Getting caught playing 'hide the salami' with another man is certainly embarrassing. He has embarrassed his country, his state and the US Senate. Craig has a lot of egg on his face, but if you see him in an airport bathroom, it's probably not egg.

-ARTICLE-

AUGUST 28 - Here's the Minnesota police report memorializing the June 11 arrest of U.S. Senator Larry Craig in an airport bathroom. The Idaho Republican was nabbed in a men's restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport after he apparently sought some same-stall action from a plainclothes cop.

In a District Court complaint, Craig was charged with peeping and disorderly conduct. He pleaded guilty earlier this month to the misdemeanor disorderly conduct count and was fined $1000 and sentenced to ten days in the Hennepin County lockup (though the jail time was stayed as long as the politician keeps clean for a year).

According to the Airport Police Department report, Craig, 62, appeared versed in the subtle signs of seeking a stall assignation, from under-the-divider hand motions to some furtive footsie. For his part, Craig denies engaging in lewd conduct and contends that Karsnia misconstrued his actions.

As for his expeditious plea, Craig now regrets admitting guilt, a realization that directly coincides with Roll Call's unearthing of the details of his bathroom bust. In a press conference today, Craig claimed he "did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport," contradicting the plea agreement he signed earlier this month.

Sen. Larry Craig insisted today "I am not gay" and lashed out at the Idaho Statesman for a "witchhunt" that led him to plead guilty to a disorderly conduct charge — a plea he hoped would make the charge go away.

Craig said his state of mind was troubled then because of an Idaho Statesman investigation into rumors circulated by a blogger and published by many other papers in the state. The paper printed nothing until news of Craig's arrest became public Monday.

Zaca Fire still raging Mushroom cloud towers over Santa Barbara

2007-08-19T17:24:00.000-07:00

Just my luck that I've move to Santa Barbara, buy a house in upper Mission Canyon and face the fourth biggest forest fire in California history (180,000 acres) and the driest summer for 100 years. Not to mention that Santa Barbara County had less rainfall this year than Death Valley. A perfect firestorm of conditions.

A mushroom cloud of smoke towers over the 4,000 foot Santa Ynez mountains and reaches up to 20,000 feet in the sky. Those nights of star gazing are a thing of the past.

I'm not too worried about my own property, to be honest I feel worse about the fire destroying the California Condor Sanctuary on Sisquoc River. The condors are almost extinct, in fact there are only 300 California condors left in the world and most of them are heading to Mexico. A real shame because I enjoy birding and love seeing the 12 foot wing spanned condors swoop over the mountains. Our bald eagle population aren't fairing much better. The Dick Smith Wilderness now appears doomed. Especially with the prospect of more back country back burning on the horizon.

The Independent's coverage of the fire has been concise and accurate. There's a real push in our community to get local hiker/photographer/reporter Ray Ford a Pulitzer or at the very least a local hero award.

Thank you Ray for your outstanding committment to our community and thank you to our brave firefighters who are out there every day without complaint. We are proud of you all.

Dick Cheney is right - Why the Iraq invasion was a mistake

2007-08-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

Zaca Fire still heading towards Santa Barbara

2007-08-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

This NASA ASTER image shows the Zaca fire, which continues to burn in the Los Padres National Forest near Santa Barbara, California

The fire started more than a month ago, on July 4, and has burned 75,000 acres. The fire remains in steep, rocky terrain with poor access. The continued poor access makes containment difficult in the wilderness area on the eastern flank.

So far only one outbuilding has been destroyed; more than 450 homes are currently threatened. Over 2,300 fire personnel, aided by four air tankers and 15 helicopters, are working to contain this massive fire. Full containment is expected on September 7th.

With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region, and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER images Earth to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet, and is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched Dec. 18, 1999, on NASA's Terra spacecraft.

The instrument was built by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER provides scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information for surface mapping, and monitoring of dynamic conditions and temporal change.
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NASA MODIS image
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It seems like the fire is heading towards the Santa Barbara News-Press building. Glad to see God has a sense of humor.

Zaca Fire heading towards Santa Barbara

2007-08-08T00:43:00.000-07:00

I live in Santa Barbara (in the foothills of the Santa Ynez mountains) and the Zaca Fire is starting to get dangerously close to burning our community. Just my luck. We've had to pack emergency bags, food, dog supplies and important documents and get ready to evacuate. Just north of us they have already begun evacuations. Paradise Road and San Marcos Pass Road (Hwy 154) remain closed.

I grew up on the East Coast so this is the first major forest fire I've encountered. I went up the pass today to take photos but was turned back by firefighters. The smoke is now hanging over northern Santa Barbara. As I write this, I'm breathing in smoke from our open windows. Kinda gives you a headache after a while. Now I know what it's like to live in a tipi.

For a month this fire has been dropping ash onto us. Every morning my truck is blanketed in ash, as is the house. Luckily, it's ash, not flying embers. 70,000 acres of Los Padres National Forest has burned. The historic cabins are charcoal. We're hoping it won't cross Camino Cielo. If it does, we've been told to evacuate. I've been here for eight months and now there's a real possibility we could lose our home.

At times, the smoke gets so dense it hides our view of Cathedral Peak, a 4,000 foot peak in the Santa Ynez range. Even worse, there's only one road out of our community. This whole experience has been surreal.

Governor Schwarzenegger aka 'The Governator' has declared the fire a state emergency so there are tons of brave firefighting crews battling the blaze. I keep seeing DC10's and choppers flying overhead, dropping ten tons of fire retardant. The elderly people in my community are getting nervous. 600 homes are already threatened. Today we had westerly winds so it blew the fire east rather than south.

It has been the worst drought for 100 years here in Santa Barbara County. It rained once in February and that was more of a brief sprinkle - it hasn't rained since. There's no chance of rain.

Santa Barbara Independent photographer Ray Ford should get a Pulitzer for his photos of the fire.

Here's the latest Google map of the fire

Sopranos Season Finale = WTF?

2007-06-11T01:07:00.000-07:00

What a waste of time that was. I've been watching 'The Sopranos' since the beginning and there have been some classic episodes over the years but the finale was garbage. I feel robbed.

It a shame because this season could have been so much better. Imagine Tony getting whacked by Silvio. Imagine AJ whacking Silvio and becoming boss of North Jersey. Imagine Meadow doing drugs and descending into the world of porn. It ain't wholesome but damn it would've been intense. Far more intense than watching the Sopranos sit down and have dinner and then the screen goes black...

Bird shits on President Bush

2007-05-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui was laughed at

2007-04-19T13:33:00.000-07:00

Va. Tech Shooter Was Laughed At

By MATT APUZZO
Associated Press Writer

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) - Long before he boiled over, Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui was picked on, pushed around and laughed at because of his shyness and the strange way he talked when he was a schoolboy in suburban Washington, former classmates say.

Chris Davids, a Virginia Tech senior who graduated from Westfield High School in Chantilly, Va., with Cho in 2003, recalled that the South Korean immigrant almost never opened his mouth and would ignore attempts to strike up a conversation.

"As soon as he started reading, the whole class started laughing and pointing and saying, `Go back to China"

Once, in English class, the teacher had the students read aloud, and when it was Cho's turn, he just looked down in silence, Davids recalled. Finally, after the teacher threatened him with an F for participation, Cho started to read in a strange, deep voice that sounded ``like he had something in his mouth,'' Davids said. ``As soon as he started reading, the whole class started laughing and pointing and saying, `Go back to China,''' Davids said.

Cho shot 32 people to death and committed suicide Monday in the deadliest one-man shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. The high school classmates' accounts add to the psychological portrait that is beginning to take shape, and could shed light on the video rant Cho mailed to NBC in the middle of his rampage at Virginia Tech.

aka "Ishmael Ax"

2007-04-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK - With a backlash developing against the media for airing sickening pictures from Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui, Fox News Channel said Thursday it would stop and other networks said they would severely limit their use. NBC News was the recipient Wednesday of Cho's package of rambling, hate-filled video and written messages, with several pictures of him posing with a gun. Contents began airing on "Nightly News," and its rivals quickly used them, too.

Family members of victims canceled plans to appear on NBC's "Today" show Thursday because they "were very upset" with the network for showing the pictures, "Today" host Meredith Vieira said.

NBC and its MSNBC cable outlet will "severely limit" use of these pictures going forward, "Today" host Matt Lauer said, a restriction echoed by ABC News. At both CBS News and CNN, producers will need explicit approval from their bosses to use them going forward.
Fox News announced on the air late Thursday morning that it would no longer air Cho's material, saying "sometimes you change your mind."

NBC News said it had no indication why Cho chose it for his message. A Postal Service time stamp shows it was mailed at 9:01 a.m. Monday, during the two hours between his first shooting at a Virginia Tech dorm and his massacre at a classroom building.

---

The killer: Who was he?

DORM MATES AT TECH RECALL GUNMAN: 'HE DIDN'T REALLY TALK TO ANYBODY'

BLACKSBURG -- An orange paper fish stuck outside the door to Room 2121 of Harper Hall bears the names "Joe" and "Seung-Ho," a bright, promising note to a new school year.
It went up in August when Joseph E. Aust and Cho Seung-Hui moved in. Cho barely said a word after that. On Monday, he took his guns and -- still silent, witnesses say -- killed 32 students and faculty.

His roommate, appearing tired and overwhelmed yesterday, has no idea why.
"I didn't really know him at all," Aust said. "I tried to make conversation with him in August or so, and he would just give one-word answers and not try to carry on a conversation."
Aust didn't learn Cho was an English major -- one whose creative writing features talk of rape and pedophilia and angry desires to kill -- until yesterday.

Aust, 19, of Maryland, is a sophomore and an electrical engineering major. He said Cho, 23 and a senior, "was always really, really quiet. . . . He didn't really talk to anybody."
"I would notice a lot of times, like, I would come in the room and he'd be just kind of like sitting at his desk, just staring at nothing. It seemed a little odd, but I would pass it . . . off like he was just weird," said Aust.

A native of South Korea, Cho lived with his parents in Centreville and was a 2003 graduate of Westfield High School in Fairfax County.

At Tech, Aust and Cho lived in one of three, two-person rooms that, along with a small bathroom, make up each suite at the dorm. The suite looks lived-in but fairly clean. There are plastic bottles of hand soap on the sink and a can of spray disinfectant below.
News of what Cho did shocked and surprised many who came into contact with him during the past year.

Like Aust, they have no explanation for what happened Monday morning.
"I didn't really see him," Aust said. "I was sleeping at the time. I could hear him get up, and I looked at my clock and noticed what time he was waking up'cause he makes a lot of noise, usually." "It was like, 5:30 or 6." Aust said he went back to sleep.

He said Cho seemed to go through his normal morning routine: went to the bathroom, dressed and took his medicine. Aust said Cho had prescription medication, but he did not know what it was. Cho also wore contacts and used eyedrops.

Aust said that Cho did not keep normal student hours. He went to bed relatively early, about 9 p.m., and arose around 7 a.m. However, Aust said that in the past couple of weeks, "he'd been getting up earlier and earlier -- about like, 5:30, 6."

Neither Aust nor Grewal ever saw Cho with a friend of either sex. "I never saw him with anybody. . . . He seemed like a guy who didn't have a lot of friends," Grewal said. "He didn't speak to any of us, his roommates."

He did listen to all kinds of music, including rock, rap and classical. Aust and Grewal said Cho frequently worked out with weights at a campus gymnasium.

Neither knew what reason he would have to be at either building where the shootings took place. And they never saw him with firearms or ammunition.
Grewal returned to his room and was asleep during the shootings. "I just woke up about 9:30 when I heard the sirens."

Cho's recent writings were unsettling, some who read them say.

One play, called "Richard McBeef" features violence and profanity, with a teenager protagonist chanting "Must kill. Must kill," referring to his stepfather. In the play, the teen attempts to suffocate the stepfather.

A fellow student in his playwriting class, Susan Derry, told The Collegiate Times his plays "were really morbid and grotesque."

She said Cho never spoke in class and would only shrug if asked to talk about his work.
Ed Falco, who teaches the playwriting class, said he couldn't talk about Cho or his work. He said the university's lawyers asked staff not to talk about Cho as long as the investigation continues.
Those living with Cho at Harper Hall, however, were not aware of those restrictions.
Grewal said he and Aust were surprised when they learned Cho was the killer.

"I actually didn't believe it," he said. "I would have gone as far as telling the cops that he did not seem capable of anything like this," he said. "He was a pretty small kid. . . . I just thought he was a quiet guy." Last August, "I said, 'Hi,' to him twice. He never replied, he just shied away," Grewal said.

Cho Seung Hui was a fan of violent video games.

Several Korean youths who knew Cho Seung Hui from his high school days said he was a fan of violent video games, particularly Battlefield 2 and Counterstrike, both hugely popular online games, in which players join military groups and try to shoot each other using all types of guns. The name "Ishmael Ax" was found scrawled in red ink on the killer's arm, apparently a reference to his Xbox Live gamer tag "Ishmael Ax".

Virginia Tech shooter identified as Cho Seung-Hui

2007-04-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The gunman suspected of carrying out the Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead was identified Tuesday as a English major whose creative writing was so disturbing that he was referred to the school's counseling service.

Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old senior, arrived in the United States as boy from South Korea in 1992 and was raised in suburban Washington, D.C., officials said. He attended Westfield High School in Centreville, Virginia (the same high school as Michael Kennedy who shot and killed two police officers and wounded another outside the Sully district Fairfax County police station in Chantilly, Virginia).

Police and university officials offered no clues to his motive in the massacre, the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. "He was a loner, and we're having difficulty finding information about him," school spokesman Larry Hincker said.

Professor Carolyn Rude, chairwoman of the university's English department, said she did not personally know the gunman. But she said she spoke with Lucinda Roy, the department's director of creative writing, who had Cho in one of her classes and described him as "troubled."

Suicide note

According to reports, Cho left a "disturbing note" criticizing "rich kids", "debauchery", and "deceitful charlatans" before killing two people in a dorm room. Two hours later, he then crossed the campus to continue his rampage in a classroom building. Police identified Cho by matching fingerprints on the guns used in the shootings with immigration materials.

The words "Ismail Ax" were found inscribed on his arm in red ink, apparently a reference to his Xbox 360 gamertag. Friends said Cho would stay in his room and play Battlefield 2 and Counterstrike for hours. Xbox Live have removed the gamer tag.

Officials have described finding a March purchase receipt for a GLOCK 9mm used in the assault and note that permanent residents in Virginia may legally purchase firearms with proof of residency.

Virginia Tech shooter identified as "Asian man...wearing a vest" Another man taken into custody Death Toll is 33

2007-04-16T17:01:00.000-07:00

The death toll for the shooting at Virginia Tech is now 33 according to Charles Steger, president of Virginia Tech. 31 were killed in Norris Hall and two in West Ambler Johnston Dormitory.

In the deadliest mass shooting in U-S history, 33 people are now confirmed dead in a shooting that began early this morning at Virginia Tech. Among the dead is the gunman who federal authorities describe as a young, Asian male who was "heavily armed and wearing a vest."

The FBI and ATF believe two handguns were used by the lone gunman. The gunman took his own life.

Classes are cancelled tomorrow and counseling centers are being set up around campus. The shooting happened at 7:15 this morning on the 4th floor of West Ambler Johnston dormitory and at Norris Hall. University officicals days deaths occured in both campus locations. Students are among the dead, some shot in a classroom in Norris Hall. Authorities have not released the names of victims until families have been notified. Shooting victims have been taken to New River Valley Medical Center in Christiansburg, Montgomery Regional Hospital, and Carilion's Roanoke Memorial Hospital. All entrances to the campus are closed and all public schools in Montgomery County are in lock down right now.

This is the second time this school year Virginia Tech has been in lock down. The first time was when police were searching for William Morva in August. Morva allegedly escaped police custody at the Montgomery Regional Hospital and allegedly killed a hospital security guard and later a Montgomery County deputy.

Deadliest shooting in US history Virginia Tech Rampage --Gunman kills at least 31 at Virginia Tech

2007-04-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

BLACKSBURG, Va. - A gunman opened fire in a Virginia Tech dorm and then, two hours later, in a classroom across campus Monday, killing at least 30 people in the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history, government officials told The Associated Press. The gunman was killed, bringing the death toll to 31.

"Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions," said Virginia Tech president Charles Steger. "The university is shocked and indeed horrified."
It was not immediately clear whether the gunman was shot by police or took his own life. His name was not released, investigators offered no motive for the attack. It was not known if the gunman was a student.

The shootings spread panic and confusion on campus, with witnesses reporting students jumping out the windows of a classroom building to escape the gunfire. SWAT team members with helmets, flak jackets and assault rifles swarmed over the campus. Students and faculty members carried out some of the wounded themselves, without waiting for ambulances to arrive.

The massacre took place at opposite sides of the 2,600-acre campus, beginning at about 7:15 a.m. at West Ambler Johnston, a coed dormitory that houses 895 people, and continuing at least two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering building about a half-mile away, authorities said.
Police said they were still investigating the shooting at the dorm when they got word of gunfire at the classroom building.

After the first shots were fired, students were warned to stay indoors and away from the windows. But some students said they thought the precautions had been lifted by the time the second burst of gunfire was heard, and some bitterly questioned why the gunman was able to strike a second time, two hours after the bloodshed began.

"What happened today this was ridiculous. And I don't know what happened or what was going through this guy's mind," student Jason Piatt told CNN. "But I'm pretty outraged and I'll say on the record I'm pretty outraged that someone died in a shooting in a dorm at 7 o'clock in the morning and the first e-mail about it — no mention of locking down campus, no mention of canceling classes — they just mention that they're investigating a shooting two hours later at 9:22."

He added: "That's pretty ridiculous and meanwhile, while they're sending out that e-mail, 22 more people got killed."

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko in Washington said there was no evidence to suggest it was a terrorist attack, "but all avenues will be explored."

Up until Monday, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history was in Killeen, Texas, in 1991, when George Hennard drove his pickup into a Luby's Cafeteria and shot 23 people to death, then himself.

Since 1966, there have been several school shootings that have caused causalities.

WORST SHOOTINGS

23 killed on Oct. 16, 1991: George Hennard crashes his pickup into a Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, and then opens fire on the people inside before killing himself.

21 killed on July 18, 1984: James Oliver Huberty opens fire at a San Ysidro, Calif., McDonald’s restaurant before a police sniper kills him. His victims include five children and six teenagers.

15 killed on Aug. 1, 1966: Charles Whitman shoots from the top of the tower on the University of Texas campus before being brought down by law enforcement. Before the shooting, Whitman had killed his wife and mother.

14 killed on Aug. 20, 1986: Patrick Henry Sherrill shoots co-workers at an Edmond Oklahoma post office and then kills himself.

13 killed on April 20, 1999: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold begin shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. Of the victims, 12 were students and one was a teacher. Both gunmen played violent video games. Both gunman killed themselves.

Henry Kissinger facing extradition to Uruguay over "Operation Condor"

2007-03-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

Another good article about Kissinger (and Iraq) by Christopher Hitchens

MONTEVIDEO (AFP) - An attorney for a victim of Uruguay's 1973-1985 dictatorship has asked his government to request the extradition of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger over his alleged role in the notorious Operation Condor.

Condor was a secret plan hatched by South American dictators in the 1970s to eliminate leftist political opponents in the region. Details of the plan have emerged over the past years in documents and court testimony.

The Latin American dictatorships of the time "were mere executors" of a "plan of extermination" hatched in the United States by a group led by Kissinger, said attorney Gustavo Salle, who represents the family of Bernardo Arnone. Uruguayan prosecutor Mirtha Guianze has received the request and is studying the case, according to news reports.

A leftist activist, Arnone was arrested in October 1976 and flown to Argentina with a group of political prisoners that vanished and were presumably executed. Kissinger played a dominant role in US foreign policy between 1969 and 1977, and was a strong supporter of right-wing regimes across Latin America.

The extradition request comes as the topic of rights violations during Uruguay's dictatorship is making headlines again, with Salle citing evidence from declassified US State Department documents.

Witnesses are set to testify in April in a case that began in September against eight retired regime officials over rights violations.

Bush's portrayal of Iraq edges closer to critics'

2007-01-28T18:19:00.000-08:00

"This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we're in". Is it me or his Bush parroting the same rhetoric we used to hear from Rumsfeld? It sounds remarkably like "you go to war with the army you've got, not the army you may want" or other gems like "we're fighting them over there, so we don't have to fight them over here". Seriously, who's coming up with these sound bites? My money's on Cheney, let's face it, he's the one driving this ship into the rocks. You know damn well Bush doesn't have the mental capacity to flip burgers let alone run a nation.

So there was an anti-war protest over the weekend but that's not going to stop an additional 21,500 soldiers from being sent to Iraq. Bush is committed to the troop surge because obviously he and Cheney have never experienced the horror or war. During Vietnam, Bush flew Cesnas over his Crawford ranch while Dick filed seven deferments "because he had better things to do". Now they're running a war that has cost the lives of 3,000 U.S. soldiers and countless Iraqi civilians.

Congress needs to get some balls and stand up to the Christian Taliban running the White House.

-Article-

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Before the November US elections, President George W. Bush promised never to put US troops "in the crossfire" of Iraq's warring sectarian groups. Last week, he made clear that his new strategy would do just that.

"This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we're in,"

(shades of Rumsfeld here..."you ) "This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we're in," he told a war-weary US public in his annual State of the Union address, as he defended his decision to send 21,500 more US troops into battle.

Bush gave no ground on that front to the opposition Democrats who harnessed the US public's anger at the war to take control of the US Congress for the first time in a dozen years, and signalled he would pursue his new strategy over their objections.

But the president's portrayal of the situation in Iraq seemed to break with his pre-election insistence that he would not leave US forces ensnared between Iraq's Shiite militias or Sunni insurgent groups.

"Americans have no intention of taking sides in a sectarian struggle or standing in the crossfire between rival factions," he assured US voters in an October 25 news conference.

"The reality is that when the president spoke earlier, he was watching a steady rise towards a civil war all through the latter part of 2006," said Anthony Cordesman, a military affairs and Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington.

Now, Bush has given up his "relentless effort to spin the events in Iraq into successes" and has "simply recognized the reality in Iraq," Cordesman told AFP by telephone.

"The president has effectively admitted that his previous statements were not credible. And if this current set of statements leads to further failures, it will lead to further damage," he said, adding: "You can admit past failures only if you move on to future success."

A Republican congressional aide, who requested anonymity, said that Bush's rhetorical shift reflected the outcome of the November elections, which the aide described as a contest between two competing visions of Iraq.

Voters "heard two stories: One of 'we're fighting a civil war in Iraq.' The other that 'we're fighting terrorists overseas so we don't have to fight them here at home,'" the official said.

"From the results, it was clear more Americans, at least the ones who voted, believed we are in a civil conflict, civil war, whatever you want to call it," said the aide. "That has become the consensus view."

Two senior US officials said that Bush's change in message reflected a change in the situation in Iraq and the overhaul of a US strategy that the president says will put US forces in a supporting role in Baghdad.

"The Iraqis are in the lead," said White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe. "But they need our military assistance to help bring security to Baghdad."

US troops "will support Iraqi troops in all of the districts of Baghdad," said Johndroe. "Sometimes that means going after Sunni insurgents, sometimes that will mean going after Shiite militias."

Another senior administration official, who requested anonymity, stressed that the rules of engagement -- "whether we will be supporting the Iraqis kicking down doors or supporting from headquarters" -- will be decided by the new commander of US forces in Iraq, Army Lieutenant General David Petraeus.

"There is a conscious desire not to, in supporting the Iraqis, make the job more difficult. In some cases, the presence of American forces might be welcomed, in others less so," said the official.

Bush's pre-election statement was technically still accurate, because "in our view, we are not going to insert ourselves in the middle of it," the official said, referring to the deadly cycle of sectarian violence in Baghdad.

Asked how that was possible, the official clarified that US forces would not merely be "caught in firefights" but would actively help Iraqi security go after sectarian and criminal elements that target each other and US soldiers.

QB Michael Vick's busted at airport with water bottle full of marijuana

2007-01-18T12:08:00.000-08:00

(AP) MIAMI — Michael Vick reluctantly surrendered a water bottle to security at Miami International Airport that contained a residue “closely associated with marijuana.” Police said today that no charges immediately were filed.

The 26-year-old Atlanta Falcons quarterback entered an airport concourse Wednesday morning with the 20-ounce bottle. He eventually handed it over and boarded his flight to Atlanta. But his initial reluctance to turn over the bottle aroused suspicion among airport security screeners, a police report said.

Two Transportation Security Administration screeners recognized the 6-foot, 215-pound Vick.

The bottle was found to have a hidden compartment that contained “a small amount of dark particulate and a pungent aroma closely associated with marijuana,” the report said. The compartment was hidden by the bottle’s label so that it appeared to be a full bottle of water when held upright, police said.

Police said the bottle was sent to the Miami-Dade County crime lab for analysis. It could be weeks before any decision is made on whether to file charges, said Detective Alvaro Zabaleta.

“We’ll do an analysis and see what it is. There’s no sense of urgency to it,” he said to.

Vick did not immediately return a phone call early Thursday. “We plan to look into the matter and discuss it with Michael Vick before having any further comment,” Falcons spokesman Reggie Roberts said.

Bush says critics won't halt Iraq surge President Bush = Out of touch with America

2007-01-14T12:55:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) President Bush, facing opposition from both parties over his plan to send more troops to Iraq, said he has the authority to act no matter what Congress wants. (So much for democracy!)

"I fully understand they could try to stop me from doing it. But I've made my decision. And we're going forward," Bush told CBS' "60 Minutes" in an interview to air Sunday night. (He's crazy folks!)

Vice President Dick Cheney asserted that lawmakers' criticism will not influence Bush's plans and he dismissed any effort to "run a war by committee." (Like anyone has ever influenced these guys?)

The defiant White House stance comes as both the House and Senate, now controlled by Democrats, prepare to vote on resolutions that oppose additional U.S. troops in Iraq. Cheney said those nonbinding votes would not affect Bush's ability to carry out his policies. (Of course not, Bush is beyond reproach right?)

Any attempts to block Bush's efforts would undermine the troops, Cheney said.
(More rhetoric...question the war and they brand you a traitor!)

He took particular aim at Democratic lawmakers who have blasted the president for increasing troops despite opposition from Congress, military advisers and a disgruntled electorate that in November ousted the GOP as the majority party on Capitol Hill.

"They have absolutely nothing to offer in its place," Cheney said of Democratic leaders. "I have yet to hear a coherent policy from the Democratic side."
(Withdraw from Iraq)

Yet many Republican lawmakers, too, have begun to criticize Bush's war management. Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, for example, said last week he feared Bush's plan would be the worst foreign policy blunder since the Vietnam War. (Chuck Hagel = Vietnam Vet = Credibility = Didn't fly jets in Texas)

Bush announced last week he will send 21,500 more troops to Iraq to halt violence, mainly around Baghdad, as an essential step toward stabilizing the country's government. (Yeah that's going to solve everything and stop the killings! Like Hell! This plan is more like an anti-plan. Bush is clueless!)

That plan — along with economic and political steps — are meant to allow Iraqis to move ahead with securing the country themselves and allow U.S. troops to gradually return home.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in London for talks Sunday with Prime Minister Tony Blair on Bush's new approach in Iraq and Britain's plan to withdraw troops from southern Iraq. (Tony Blair = Lap dog)

"We are going to need to deal with what Iran is doing inside Iraq," national security adviser Stephen Hadley said. (Translation: Bush Corp stock is rising)

Added Cheney: "Iran is fishing in troubled waters inside Iraq." (Translation: Operation Iranian Freedom)

Bush's revised war strategy (more troops, less massacres) seeks to isolate Iran and Syria, which the U.S. has accused of fueling attacks in Iraq. The president also says Iran and Syria have not done enough to block terrorists from entering Iraq over their borders.

"We know there are jihadists moving from Syria into Iraq. ... We know also that Iran is supplying elements in Iraq that are attacking Iraqis and attacking our forces," Hadley said. (Hadley wants to widen the war, Kissinger wrote the script)

Hadley sidestepped a question about whether U.S. forces would move across the border to pursue Iranians who are helping Iraqi insurgents. (Translation: troops already on the ground in Iran)